Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies

By David Philip Barash

Book Overview

Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, Third Edition, provides a unique and interdisciplinary sampling of key articles focusing on the diverse facets of peace and conflict studies. Featuring both classic and contemporary work, it enables students to read highly influential articles while also introducing them to the most current perspectives in the field. Timeless classics from Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Henry David Thoreau are included alongside contemporary pieces. Updated to address current concerns, the third edition incorporates fourteen new readings.

Ideal on its own as a foundation text in any introductory peace studies course, Approaches to Peace, Third Edition, is also compact enough to use as a supplement with more specialized readings. Each selection is prefaced by a short introduction highlighting the author's background, the work's historical context, and the selection's significance in terms of the "big picture." Study questions and a list of suggested readings at the end of each chapter also provide useful resources for students.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199949158
• ISBN13: 9780199949151
• Release Date: July 2013
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.4" x 0.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

One of the best, but still falls a bit short

I've used David Barash's _Approaches to Peace_ several times in my college classes on peace and justice. This is unusual in itself, because I rarely use anthologies, preferring instead to go straight to the original sources themselves. I like Barash's approach, though, because it tries to be inclusive as possible. The anthology begins by looking at the definitions and possible causes of war, moves on to analyses of how to prevent war (negative peace), then to considerations of how to create structures of justice that eliminate the necessary conditions for war (positive peace). The rest of the book is devoted to readings that discuss nonviolence, religious pacifism, and historical peace movements. All of these general categories are exactly what one would want in a "peace studies" text.The problem is that the readings included in each category aren't always the best (or at least aren't the ones I would've selected). The single best two sets of readings are in the chapters on positive peace and nonviolence. The single worst (and I do mean *worst*!) set of readings are when Barash deals with religious pacifism (it's as if he feels uncomfortable in this arena). In the section on peace movements, Vaclav Havel's essay is the single best piece, but one wonders why it (and perhaps the entire chapter) doesn't serve as the prologue to the anthology.Still, no anthology perfectly pleases everyone. Barash's is the best one out there I've discovered. Perhaps some changes will be made in a second edition. Regardless, I highly recommend this book.