Peace for Beginners

Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book

by Ian Kellas

Book by Kellas, Ian

Genres: History, Religion, Politics, Philosophy

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 1984

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an overview for beginners, the book points to many large ideas that are not fully explicated. Think of this book as a visually-appealing index: the drawings are fun to look at and the text is solid, but it should point you toward deeper reading in many directions.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some sense a good introduction to theories of peace, I guess, but clearly a child of its time. It was published in 1984 and a lot of space is given over to the bomb and discussions about that. I'm definitely not saying that wasn't interesting, nor that that problem has really been solved, but it does show its age for it. I'm just not sure about the research behind the book. According to it, Christianity and Buddhism are the peaceful religions, but is that really true? People have gone to war using both of these religions as pretext. Of course, one can't really blame the religions for that, but still. Other than that, an interesting read.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, and did take me a few tries, though the good writing and cartooning is necessarily condensed. I love this series - and this one could stand a good reprint or updating.
Highly recommended.

[Sancho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, it is very illustrative of how peace and war are understood by different philosopical/religious/political groups.

Kellas goes back all the way to study religious leaders, philosphers, teachers and humanists (e.g. Jesus, Gandhi, Tolstoi) and the evolution of different movements around the world, with a strong focus on non-violent confrontations.

At the end,the author analyzes the tension among political and military powers and the morality (?) of war, especially nuclear war.

I particularly like the concept of all beings being ONE, not from a religious or superstitious point of view, but from a pacifist point of view, and agree with the author in that "Universality + some sacrifice --> Peace on Earth". This senseless individuality reminded me of a dialogue in the recent HBO "True detective" series, in which Rust says:

"I think human consciousness was a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, this accretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody when, in fact, everybody's nobody."

A bit obscure, I know, but there's some truth in it, right?