The Glorious Art of Peace: From the Iliad to Iraq

by John Gittings

Human progress & prosperity depend on a peaceful environment. Most people have always sought to live in peace, yet our perception of the past is dominated too often by a narrative that is obsessed with war. In this groundbreaking study, former Guardian journalist Gittings demolishes the myth that peace is dull & that war is in our genes, & opens an alternative window on history to show the strength of the case for peace which has been argued from ancient times onwards. Beginning with a new analysis of the treatment of peace in the Iliad, he explores the powerful arguments against war made by classical Chinese & Greek thinkers, & by the early Christians. He urges more attention to Erasmus on the Art of Peace, less to Machiavelli on the Art of War. The significant shift in Shakespeare's later plays towards a more peace-oriented view is also explored. He traces the growth of the international movement for peace from the Enlightenment to the present, & assesses the inspirational role of Tolstoy & Gandhi in advocating nonviolence. Bringing the story into the 20th century, he shows how the League of Nations in spite of its "failure" led to high hopes for a stronger United Nations, but that real chances for peace were missed in the early years of the cold war. Today, as we approach the centenary of WWI, he argues that, instead of being obsessed by a new war on terror, we should be focusing energy on seeking peaceful solutions to the challenges of nuclear proliferation, conflict & extremism, poverty & inequality, & climate change.
List of Plates
Introduction
The perception of peace & war
Ancient peace: from Homer to the Hundred Schools
The morality of peace: from Jesus to the Crusades
The Humanist approach: Erasmus & Shakespeare
The growth of peace consciousness: from Kant to The Hague
Alternatives to war: the League of Nations & non-violence
The misappropriation of peace: from the UN to the Cold War
Giving peace a chance: from the Cold War to Iraq
Conclusion: peace in the 21st century
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Genres: Nonfiction, History

317 pages, Hardcover

First published January 3, 2012

Reviews

[Al Bità · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is perhaps an unfortunate truth that when we read about our histories, the emphasis appears to remain firmly in narratives dealing with wars and conflict. This perception is so strong that we tend to accept unconditionally that this is the only way of looking at human history — and if nothing else, it also makes for what we term “exciting” stories, each of which creates the impression that all difficulties can be “resolved”, one way or another, through such warfare. This conviction thus also leads to the conclusion that the history of humanity is pre-eminently concerned with this approach, and that consequently, there is no way of avoiding it.

Gittings’ book is a welcome counter to the above, and it is a heartfelt plea for us to stop thinking in this manner, particularly since, if looked at in a different way, it is clear that the more pervasive influence, practically from the beginning, has been for the majority of ordinary people opting for peaceful resolution rather than for a call to arms.

The first six chapters in this book briefly looks at the past from the perspective of those advocating peace. These voices have been there right from the start; and they persist, in one form or another, throughout human history. It is just that, although these solicitations are relatively easy to locate, they have somehow been made “invisible” to our awareness — they tend to remain hidden in plain sight. Gittings’ “alternative narratives” for the peace-loving and peace-desiring can be achieved by “resuscitating” those voices so that they can be seen and heard anew. We need to be re-educated into thinking in new ways about the old “certitudes”.

The remaining three chapters of the book concentrate on the devastatingly war-torn 20th-c and its consequences. Gittings present a sober assessment of the conflicts during this period, the organisations and individuals who worked hard for peaceful resolutions, and a dispassionate analysis of partial successes as well as missed opportunities in this matter. The book was first published in 2012, and I get the impression that Gittings is suggesting that perhaps then current moves towards globalisation might prove a useful path to follow. The more cynical among us might point out that in the seven years since publication, the “popular movement” against globalisation and moves towards a reinstatement of “sovereign nationalism” suggests that perhaps the momentum towards peace needs to be re-defined and re-directed…

Whatever one’s views on the latter, there is no question that Gittings believes we must all work indefatigably at perfecting what he calls the Glorious Art of Peace, and if current developments away from this seem on the rise, then the time for pushing for a more achievable global peace is needed now more than ever.

[Koz · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading through two violent trilogies back-to-back, I'm looking forward to the change of pace this should offer.
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Post-Op: You can really tell this book was written by a journalist. In the end, it reads like a very thoroughly researched piece of reportage about the history of peace movements. It's an important topic, and the depth of study here is impressive, but there are a few things about the book that make it feel incomplete. One is that, while Gittings goes to great lengths in his introduction to argue against (successfully, I think) the notion that ours is a world constantly at war, his later descriptions of peace and peace movements are almost always set against the backdrops of the different violent conflicts they were opposing. Of course, so many peace movements have been developed as responses to such conflicts, so historically it makes sense to present them this way. But I was hoping for greater discussion of not just movements and activism, but also descriptions of peaceful communities, societies, lifestyles, creeds, etc. The actual nitty gritty of what it's like to live a peaceful life, seemed glossed over. In the end, I think this fact kind of undercut his original argument.

In all, a good documentation of the history of peace movements - a good book for scholars. But I don't see it inciting any great, clamorous calls for peace from the world, which, in the end is what it seems to really want.