In her Editor's Preface, Ann Riggs attempts to address one of the glaring difficulties with this book: All of the essays were presented at a peace conference held in Bienenberg, Switzerland in late-June 2001. Less than three months later, the 9/11 attacks had happened, and by the following year George W. Bush was gleefully leading the world toward Armageddon.
Some of these essays are quite good, and I would recommend at least glancing through them. However, one can't help but feel nostalgia for a time when people could be so optimistic about the possibility of peace in the world. The participants' endorsement of the Decade to End Violence seems almost quaint, considering the escalation of violence that has happened in remaining years of the decade.