31. WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, JULY 21, 2021
WAR AND PEACE
EMPIRE, PEACEMAKING, PEACE CALENDAR
CHRISTOPHER KELLY, STUART LAYCOCK.HOW WE'VE INVADED OR BEEN MILITARILY INVOLVED WITH ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY ON EARTH. Book Publishers Network, 2014. 396.
The authors posit what many have long suspected: the United States has invaded or been militarily involved with almost every country on the globe.
Kelly, a longtime military-history buff, readily admits in his introduction that he drew inspiration for his first book from Laycock’s previous work (All the Countries We Invaded: And a Few We Never Got Round To, 2012), which covers Great Britain’s overseas excursions. The two got to talking and discovered that the U.S. offered even greater fodder for such a compilation. It has invaded 84 out of the 194 countries recognized by the United Nations and has been militarily involved with 191 of those. (The holdouts, the authors note, are Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein.) Military action is never too far away for America, as Kelly notes: “Americans are always hoping for peace but usually preparing for war. The American Eagle is an ambivalent bird holding arrows in the talons of one foot and an olive branch in the other.” A work such as this has the potential for being academically stodgy, but Kelly and Laycock deftly avoid that trap. Instead, they find colorful, obscure episodes from each country’s past. Take, for example, Panama’s Watermelon War of 1856: “It was really more of a Watermelon Riot, which was triggered by an intoxicated American railroad traveler who took a slice of watermelon from a Panamanian fruit merchant and refused payment. Fifteen Americans were killed in Panama City, and we sent our troops in to restore order.” One drawback is that readers can get cast adrift on the sea of military and political acronyms in the book, but the authors do provide supporting materials, such as a glossary, maps, and a comprehensive index, at the back of the volume to provide perspective for those seeking clarification. Still, for a dedicated history fan, this is an invigorating travelogue, taking readers around the world and backward and forward through time.
An intensive compendium of America’s interactions, both good and bad, with other countries that rightly leaves out the philosophizing.
Publisher:
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Review Program: KIRKUS INDIE
PEACEMAKING AND PEACEMAKERS
Kathy Kelly. Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace and Justice in the Age of Endless War.
Publisher’s description
Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace and Justice in the Age of Endless War is an inspiring collection narrating how peace activists found their calling and why the world still needs peace activism.Since the late 1990s the annual Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith Peace Conference in upstate New York has grown to become the region’s premier peace conference. Bending the Arc provides a history of the conference and brings together the inspiring, personal stories from such well-known participants as Medea Benjamin, Blase Bonpane, Kathy Kelly, Bill Quigley, David Swanson, and Ann Wright, among others. Drawing from diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions, contributors share their experiences of working for peace and justice and discuss the obstacles to both. They address a wide range of contemporary problems, including the war on terror, killer drones, the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, mass surveillance, the human cost of war, political-economic impediments to peace, violent extremism, the role of women in peace-building, and the continued threat of nuclear weapons. With its stories of how peace activists found their calling and its exploration of why the world still needs peace activism, the book offers a vision rooted in human community and hope for the future.
“The book provides a fascinating look into the motivations and visions of contemporary peace activists.” — CHOICE
“This collection of activist voices is enjoyable, interesting, and moving to read, and it will help readers understand why and how people actually get involved with peace work.” — Jason Del Gandio, coeditor of Educating for Action: Strategies to Ignite Social Justice
About the Book: Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace and Justice in the Age of Endless War is an inspiring collection narrating how peace activists found their calling and why the world still needs peace activism. Since the late 1990s the annual Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith Peace Conference in upstate New York has grown to become the region’s premier peace conference. Bending the Arc provides a history of the conference and brings together the inspiring, personal stories from such well-known participants as Medea Benjamin, Blase Bonpane, Kathy Kelly, Bill Quigley, David Swanson, and Ann Wright, among others. Drawing from diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions, contributors share their experiences of working for peace and justice and discuss the obstacles to both. They address a wide range of contemporary problems, including the war on terror, killer drones, the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, mass surveillance, the human cost of war, political-economic impediments to peace, violent extremism, the role of women in peace-building, and the continued threat of nuclear weapons. With its stories of how peace activists found their calling and its exploration of why the world still needs peace activism, the book offers a vision rooted in human community and hope for the future.
“The book provides a fascinating look into the motivations and visions of contemporary peace activists.” — CHOICE
“This collection of activist voices is enjoyable, interesting, and moving to read, and it will help readers understand why and how people actually get involved with peace work.” — Jason Del Gandio, coeditor of Educating for Action: Strategies to Ignite Social Justice
Peace Calendar
June 18, 1979, Presidents Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II agreement to limit long-range missiles and bombers.
June 19, 1865, African-Americans still enslaved in Galveston, learned they had been legally freed 2-1./2 years earlier.
June 20, UN World Refugee Day.
June 23, UN Public Service Day to celebrate people who serve the common good.
June 25, 1918, Eugene Debs was arrested for speaking against US participation in
WWI. When he ran for Pres. from his jail cell in 1920, he received nearly a million
votes.
June 26, each year the UN’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.