Get any books you like and read everywhere you want. We cannot guarantee that every book is in the library! Throughout history civilization has been shaped by war. Now, after a century of unprecedented devastation, it seems humankind is preparing to embark on another cycle of violence. Are we condemned to be in a state of perpetual warfare? In this lucid, impassioned, provocative book Schell shows how the underlying dynamics of history have often been shaped not by military actions, but by battles for the hearts and minds of the people.
His close re-examinations of the British, French and Russian revolutions, the collapse of Soviet power in eastern Europe in , the war in Vietnam and other key moments in history illustrate how all these events can be understood in a new way when viewed through the prism of non-violence. Now that recent events in Iraq have borne out the force of Schell's arguments - that it is not always the military battles that matter most - this inspiring book shows that there is, an alternative to war as a way of directing human society.
Compatible with any devices. Brave, eloquent, and controversial, these classic works by Jonathan Schell illuminate the nuclear threat to our civilization, and envision a way forward to peace.
In The Fate of the Earth--an international bestseller that inspired the nuclear freeze movement--Schell distills the best available scientific and technical information to imagine the apocalyptic aftereffects of nuclear war.
Dramatizing the stakes involved in abstract discussions of military strategy, when first published it galvanized public consciousness and changed the terms of the debate over nuclear arms.
The Abolition extends this work to argue--against a complacent acceptance of "the stability of the nuclear world" and conventional theories of deterrence--that pathways to disarmament exist, and that the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons is an achievable goal.
A sweeping, surprisingly hopeful historical analysis of the changing nature of warfare, both nuclear and conventional, through the end of the twentieth century, it argues that war has become less and less useful as a means for achieving political ends, culminating in the mutually assured destruction of the Cold War.
Describing the world-historical successes of people's revolutions--the Gandhian defeat of British imperialism in India and the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union, among others--Schell envisions new political and social foundations on which to sustain a lasting peace. Columns published in Newsday and New York Newsday between and and an article published in the Atlantic Monthly in examine the world-changing events of this important time period.
From the bestselling author of The Fate of the Earth, a provocative look at the urgent threat posed by America's new nuclear policies When the cold war ended, many Americans believed the nuclear dilemma had ended with it. This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker. Subscribers can purchase the slipcased edition by signing in to their accounts. Discount offer available for first-time customers only.
With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come. Sherwin Rediscover the unforgettable books that changed the way we think about war in the nuclear age Overview Overview From the Vietnam era to the war on terror, Jonathan Schell — produced a body of work as brave, humane, and consequential as any in the history of American journalism.
American Birds: A Literary Companion. The claim that nonviolence has played a major role in political changes in recent history was encouraging but not convincing. I would like to say that this section of the book is a page turner, but, for me, that was not the case.
Schell tried to cover this information in depth but I found it difficult to follow. The thesis of the entire book is that nonviolence can play an increasing role in the future. Books that are about topics that are in transition often find that a changing reality leaves the books out of date rather quickly. The Unconquerable World is one of those books that does a reasonably good job of outlining the history of world events, but dynamic current events quickly overwhelm a bold effort to outline a trend and make a forecast of continuing progress.
The chronicle has been a hopeful one of violence disrupted or in retreat — of great-power war immobilized by the nuclear stalemate, of brutal empires defeated by local peoples fighting for their self-determination, of revolutions succeeding without violence, of democracy supplanting authoritarian or totalitarian repression, of national sovereignty yielding to systems of mixed and balanced powers.
These developments, I shall argue, have provided the world with the strongest new foundations for the creation of a durable peace that have ever existed. I found the first third and the last third of The Unconquerable World readable and compelling. And gets four stars. Regrettably, the middle third contains the heart of the book and is seriously disappointing.
It gets two stars. This is where Schell attempts to prove his point that there are many examples where nonviolence has been successful in recent history and that this can lead to more use of nonviolence over violence in the future. Would it were so! But the decade of violence following the publication of this book does not lead me to be optimistic.
Arab Spring and the Occupy movement have given this book some legs. Averaging out the two and four star segments, the book as a whole deserves three stars and my thanks for an optimistic message. View all 3 comments. Aug 19, Emma Sea marked it as non-fiction-to-read. Jun 09, David Gross rated it really liked it Shelves: direct-action , political-theory , non-fiction.
Jonathan Schell tells the story of the evolution of the logic of war and political power in a way that might just give it a happy ending after all. Pacifists begin with the belief that violence is always an inappropriate way to settle such conflicts, and so one suspects that they will view the evidence about the effectiveness of nonviolent and violent methods not so much wi Jonathan Schell tells the story of the evolution of the logic of war and political power in a way that might just give it a happy ending after all.
Pacifists begin with the belief that violence is always an inappropriate way to settle such conflicts, and so one suspects that they will view the evidence about the effectiveness of nonviolent and violent methods not so much with the goal of comparing the methods objectively, but of justifying the view that the nonviolent methods are wholly sufficient. So it helps, I think, that Schell is not a pacifist. And he belongs to the modern tradition of nonviolent resistance scholarship that sees it not so much as a moral repudiation of war and conflict, but as an important and underappreciated technology with which to succeed in such conflict.
In particular, Schell sees mass nonviolent action as the latest step in what has been a long and varied evolution of the craft of warfare. His introductory chapters give a history of how the theory and practice of war have changed over the centuries, and what forces — social, technological, and otherwise — have driven these changes.
Schell challenges this view, pointing out that war has a particular logic to it and that this logic has undergone radical and fundamental changes several times in history in reaction to changes in technology and social organization. You could have superior technology, numbers, and technique; you could hold a nuclear weapons monopoly; you could win every battle; you could conquer all the territory; and still you could lose if the population refused to cave in and submit. Schell is at his best when he is writing about this sort of bottom-up people power.
Unfortunately, he ends his book by presenting a program for international reform that almost entirely concerns states and governments remaking the international order in a top-down fashion. Some of his ideas in this area I found interesting — such as his suggestion that unitary state sovereignty is a model that is on its way out.
Schell points to the negotiations over the future of Northern Ireland as an example of how the diffusion and distribution of sovereignty gave both sides in the conflict less of an all-or-nothing goal to fight for and enabled them to imagine a future of peaceful coexistence.
It is frequently observed that the community of nations is an anarchy — there is no central authority with a monopoly on violence.
During the Dubya administration in particular, the U. Certainly many Americans think that the world needs a single sovereign power with the will, ability, and wisdom to remove threats to world peace, and it just so happens they know just the right fellows for the job too.
But recent history has made a laughing stock of that variety of hubris. Schell considers the neoconservative imperial international order to have all the drawbacks of the Wilsonian vision, with none of its idealism. Sounds about right. This is more than a book on nonviolence, about which there are too many books for the few who read them or take them to heart. This is a book that will go back onto my shelves. Jun 12, Jeffrey Mcandrew marked it as to-read Shelves: top-priority-books.
This looks like an essential read! Schell is a very sharp author. An impressive defense of nonviolent action. By considering a variety of historic events, ranging from the American, French, and Russian revolutions, to Gandhi's struggle against the British and the oppositionists' struggle against their regimes in the former Soviet bloc, Jonathan Schell has produced an important work of political theory and a challenging argument in favour of the use of democratic means and popular participation in enhancing the prospects for world peace.
I was disappointed because I had high hopes. As someone who had lots of graduate courses in political theory and has read lots about pacifism and Gandhi, I found parts not very insightful or new. I was also disturbed by his use of 19th century historians rather than more current scholarship when discussing the French Revolution or the Glorious Revolution.
Alas, his optimism about the future of Russia is now badly outdated. I really enjoyed this book when I first read it, not long after it first came out, but I've later come to understand how much of his argument for the influence of nonviolence on world events is based on ahistorical nonsense and dubious interpretations and hand-waving away of countervailing evidence bordering on intellectual dishonesty.
Nov 24, Janice Sheufelt rated it liked it. Many interesting points, overly academic for the more casual reader such as myself! Dec 22, Flipniesten rated it liked it. Shell geeft veel voorbeelden van min of meer succesvolle geweldloze actie. Hij stelt onder meer dat vele revoluties Franse, Russische etc aanvankelijk geweldloos begonnen en pas later gewelddadig werden.
De geweldloze revolutionair moet een parallele maatschappij organiseren en daarmee de machthebbers uitschakelen. Voorbeelden Ghandi, King, Havel living in truth etc. Shell stelt dat de VS als enige wereldmacht moet kiezen tussen imperiale macht met grote nadelige gevolgen voor de burgerlijke Shell geeft veel voorbeelden van min of meer succesvolle geweldloze actie. Shell stelt dat de VS als enige wereldmacht moet kiezen tussen imperiale macht met grote nadelige gevolgen voor de burgerlijke vrijheden binnen de USA en cooperatieve macht.
In het boek komen een aantal hoopgevende voorbeelden en ontwikkelingen aan de orde en geeft Schell een andere kijk op historische ontwikkelingen. Helaas is het niet makkelijk leesbaar door teveel aan dorre details en gebrek aan duidelijke opbouw waardoor de boodschap voor mij enigszins ondergesneeuwd geraakt is. Schell looks for the nonviolent actions that are part of what are often represented as broadly violent revolutions.
0コメント