Mark Kurlansky is the bestselling author of
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (winner of the Glenfiddich Best Food Book Award),
The Basque History of the World,
Salt: A World History,
1968: The Year that Rocked the World, a short story collection
The White Man in the Tree and a novel
Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue (all published by Cape and Vintage). He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.
The conventional history of nations, even continents, is a history of warfare. According to this view, all the important ideas and 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 and its proponents to show how many modern ideas, a united Europe, the United Nations, and the abolition of slavery - originated in non-violence movements.
This is a magnificent achievementErudite and eloquentKurlansky writes history with his heart firmly on his sleeve, unashamedly hopeful that people are becoming more tired of war, quicker to condemn itShort and punchy and has a good heart... fascinating, vibrant and thought-provokingThis book is crammed with historical fact... thought provoking
