Peace Betrayed? Essays on Pacifism and Politics

In his highly controversial 1988 book Peace and Revolution, political scientist Guenter Lewy charged that since the Vietnam era the four major American pacifist organizationsóAmerican Friends Service Committee, Fellowship of Reconciliation, War Resisters League, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedomóhave moved from singlehanded devotion to the principles of nonviolence and reconciliation to a defense of "the moral legitimacy of armed struggle and guerrilla warfare." This provocative collection begins with a summary of Lewy's argument. The fifteen respondentsópacifists and non-pacifistsójoin the discussion. Some decry Lewy's account as prejudiced and incomplete; others applaud it as a long overdue exposure of the subversions of a noble purpose. In a final chapter, Lewy responds to his critics.