Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History, revised edition

American Heritage Series #60

by Staughton Lynd (editor)

Nonviolence in America is a comprehensive compilation of first-hand sources that document the history of nonviolence in the United States from colonial times to the present. Editors Staughton and Alice Lynd bring together materials from diverse sources that illuminate a movement in American history that is sometimes assumed to have begun and ended with the anti-nuclear and civil rights struggles of the '50s and '60s but which is, in fact, older than the Republic itself.
This revised and expanded edition of Nonviolence in America opens with writings of William Penn and John Woolman, of abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Henry David Thoreau, and of anarchists Emma Goldman and William Haywood. It continues with testimonies of suffragettes and conscientious objectors of both World Wars, trade unionists and anti-nuclear activists. It includes classics such as Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," William James's "The Moral Equivalent of War," and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." Bringing Nonviolence in America right up to the present are writings on the Vietnam and Persian Gulf Wars, and the continuing struggles against nuclear power plants and weaponry and for preservation of the Earth and its peoples.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American, American History

530 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

The son of renowned sociologists Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Lynd, Staughton Lynd grew up in New York City. He earned a BA from Harvard, an MA and PhD in history from Columbia. He taught at Spelman College in Georgia (where he was acquainted with Howard Zinn) and Yale University. In 1964, Lynd served as director of Freedom Schools in the Mississippi Summer Project. An opponent of the Vietnam War, Lynd chaired the first march against the war in Washington DC in 1965 and, along with Tom Hayden and Herbert Aptheker, went on a controversial trip to Hanoi in December 1965 that cost him his position at Yale.

In the late 1960s Lynd moved to Chicago, where he was involved in community organizing. An oral history project of the working class undertaken with his wife inspired Lynd to earn a JD from the University of Chicago in 1976. After graduating the Lynds moved to Ohio, where Staughton worked as an attorney and activist.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I need to mention that this is a review of the Third Edition of Nonviolence in America, edited by Staughton AND Alice Lynd. It also bears acknowledging that Alice and Staughton Lynd have been pillars within the social justice/nonviolence communities for over fifty years.

There is probably no other couple like the Lynds who are so deeply and personally qualified to edit such a collection.

There have been comparisons of the Lynd's book with Howard Zinn's A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. It's fair, but not entirely accurate. The chief similarity is that both books bite off huge chunks of history (Zinn's begins circa the 1400s, while the Lynd's begins about two hundred years later).

The chief difference is that Zinn's book is written, for the most part, by Zinn. With the exception of the introduction, everything else in NONVIOLENCE IN AMERICA was written by other folks.

All told, NONVIOLENCE IN AMERICA contains 56 different documents and it's an excellent testimony to the Lynd's faithful pursuit of the topic.

One of the difficulties, of course, in reviewing this sort of collection, is that you could ask ten different readers their opinion and you're guaranteed to get ten entirely different responses.

Personally, I found Ammon Hennacy's "Atlanta Prison 1917, "David Dillinger's "From Yale to Jail," Wilmer Young's "Visible Witness," Robert Moses' "Message From Jail," Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham City Jail," Shelley Douglas, "A World Where Abortion is Unthinkable" and Helen Prejean's "Dead Man Walking" to be the most moving.

But no matter what your own favorite(s) in this collection, NONVIOLENCE IN AMERICA presents an essential piece of US history. The Lynds are to be commended for being so diligent in their research. They are even more to be commended and honored for their personal commitment to social justice.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great perspective on tactics. Helps tease out the categories of violence/nonviolence and coercion/non-coercion. It also is wonderful because it is courageous tale after courageous tale of changing history. An intelligent editor that really pulls it all together and makes me want to read "Moral Man in Immoral Society" by Niebuhr

[Bethy25 Muzzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible in creating an anthology that chronicles the history of non-violence in America. It was a great book to read for school but it is just as incredible for anyone who loves books to pick up and enjoy themselves.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also required reading for the course I took with Ira Chernus.
This is dry but to the point in giving historical documentation.