Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for a New Political Age

by David Cortright

Is there room for nonviolence in a time of conflict and mass violence exacerbated by economic crisis? Drawing on the legend and lessons of Gandhi, Cortright traces the history of nonviolent social activism through the twentieth century to the civil rights movement, the Vietnam era, and up to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza. Gandhi and Beyond offers a critical evaluation and refinement of Gandhi's message, laying the foundation for a renewed and deepened dedication to nonviolence as the universal path to social progress. In the second edition of this popular book, a new prologue and concluding chapter situate the message of nonviolence in recent events and document the effectiveness of nonviolent methods of political change. Cortright's poignant Letter to a Palestinian Student points toward a radical new strategy for achieving justice and peace in the Middle East. This book offers pathways of hope not only for a new American presidential administration but for the world.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Callina · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this book was an eye-opener. It summarizes Gandhi's beliefs about religion and nonviolence, and addresses important nonviolent social movements and their leaders--Dr. King, Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, and others. It also discusses feminism as it relates to nonviolence and offers an interesting perspective on the Iraq war and the solution to terrorism. It's a bit dry in places, but for the most part very intriguing and definitely worth the read if you're interested in Gandhi, religion, social movements or nonviolence.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for an Age of Terrorism" provides an in-depth perspective from a longtime participant and scholar of nonviolent resistance. It discusses various strategies of nonviolence along with the strengths and foibles of its two most famous twentieth-century practitioners -- MLK and Gandhi. The book also talks about nonviolent resisters such as Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, Barbara Deming, and Margaret Sanger.

Informative as it is, the book is not a fully objective, academic view of nonviolent protest, but rather more of a left-wing perspective. Granted, the majority of nonviolent resistance movements have arguably come from the left. Still, the book would benefit from the mention of nonviolent resistance in the pro-life protests of the last 34 years. Inclusion of such information would have provided some balance to the Margaret Sanger section.

Also, the title is a bit misleading in that the author devotes only a few pages to nonviolent resistance of terrorism, and the information doesn't offer much beyond the standard strategy of using police work to prosecute terrorists while reaching out to moderates in the communities in which terrorists recruit. Although I mostly agree with this strategy of isolating extremists and reaching out to moderates, I was hoping to gain more insight on the subject than I did from the book. Even so, however, the book is still an informative read.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read certain chapters. Steve Bouscaren assigned for his PEAC102 class, but was very critical of Cortright. I didn't see all the things he criticized--thought the book was fairly helpful for discussing the non-violent movement.