Nonviolent Response to Terrorism

Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone concerned about our future!
Review: I just finished reading this book and it was more than I expected. I actually took a class from Tom at PSU and was more intrigued than ever to develop my own personal ideas about nonviolence, and the role it plays in our world. This book was thought provoking, and it led me to question certain "truths" that I had held dear. It's not all a stuffy or technical read. It was honest and forthcoming, and I appreciated all the clear information. I would recommend this book to eveyone from a CEO's of corporations, military personnel (especially!), tree-loving hippies, and angst-ridden college students! It's that good!
Peace!

Rating:
Summary: Strategies for Resisting Terrorism Nonviolently
Review: Tom H. Hastings, Nonviolent Response to Terrorism. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland & Co., Inc., 2004. $39.95. 244 pp. ISBN 0786418745.

This imminently readable, informed, and well-documented survey of
the best thinking about nonviolent responses to terrorism combines the
concrete experience of an activist and the theoretical knowledge of a
scholar. It emphasizes the intimate connection between developing
and using nonviolent structures and between short-term and long-term
responses. In four chapters devoted to immediate nonviolent
response, it describes the strengths and limitations of smart sanctions,
meditation, law, and nonviolent resistance, including nonviolent
interposition. Similarly, the final four chapters discuss long-term
nonviolent response, such as halting the arms race, building
sustainable economies, educating about peace cultures, and
repatriating refugees. The author indicates how recent experience and
research around the globe have increased activists' skills in
international negotiation, mediation, and adjudication. Three insightful
reflections on terrorism, in an appendix, along with appropriate
references and a detail index, make this book an ideal introduction to
recent movements for social change throughout the world. An
invaluable contribution to various disciplines associated with peace
and conflict studies, it relies on essential scholarship on nonviolence
theory and strategy along the way.

--Michael D. True