The conventional history of nations, even continents, is a history of warfare. According to this view, all the important ideas & significant changes of humankind occured as part of an effort to win one violent, bloody conflict or another. But there have always been a few who refused to fight. Following the grand sweep of history from Confucius to Tolstoy, Erasmus to Gandhi, bestselling author Mark Kurlansky traces pacifism & its proponents to show how many modern ideas, a united Europe, the United Nations, & the abolition of slavery
- originated in non-violence movements.