Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World

by Ken Beller, Heather Chase

It is said that the choices we make determine the lives we lead. In this book you will meet twenty inspiring individuals who have made peace their choice in lifeamese monk to a Brazilian musician, from a Swedish childrenan Iranian-American architect. Exploring a wide range of approaches to peacemaking, Great Peacemakers is organized into five paths to peace: choosing nonviolence, living peace, honoring diversity, valuing all life, and caring for the planet. Each path showcases the true life stories of four amazing peacemakers who have successfully cultivated peace in a variety of ways. As a whole, the book strives for an overall balance of race, nationality, religion, gender, age, and level of fame. Whether you are a parent seeking positive roles models for your children, an educator looking for thought-provoking material for your students, or someone simply wanting an uplifting read, then Great Peacemakers is sure to meet your needs and inspire the peacemaker in you. Great Peacemakers won the 2007 International PeaceWriting Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology. The book is also endorsed by three heads of state and three Nobel Peace Prize recipients, including Dr. Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica and Nobel Laureate, who said: "Powerful, well-researched and, above all, timely, Great Peacemakers should be required reading for the youth of the world."

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

208 pages, Hardcover

First published February 12, 2008

About the author

Ken Beller is cofounder and president of Near Bridge, Inc., a consulting firm that links values to the bottom line and specializes in generational and cultural diversity, visionary leadership, and global sustainability. An acclaimed public speaker and international business leader, Ken has worked in more than twenty countries leading innovative programs for some of the world's most prominent companies and organizations.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

brief overview of life and ideas of 20 peacemakers. I appreciated an introduction to several I knew nothing about, including an ecologically aware architect and a concert artist from the favelas of Brazil.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book!

[Gary Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written by a husband and wife team, Ken Beller and Heather Chase, and it briefly covers the lives of many well known and some not so well known peace makers who hail from many different backgrounds and have blessed the world with many different contributions. Great Peacemakers undertook to give an overview of the life histories of these heroes and explain what made these people take up their humanitarian crosses. It also shared with the reader the contributions that these people have made to the world, how we are in their debt and why we should hold these people in high esteem.

The book is divided into five different parts:

Choosing Nonviolence
Living Peace
Honoring Diversity
Valuing All Life
Caring for the Planet

We find many of the same faces we’d expect to see such as the Dalai Lama, Mohandas Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, etc., but we are introduced to some people who we may not have heard about, or at least known so much about, such as Henry Salt, Wangari Maathai, David Suzuki, Bruno Hussar and others. In the fourth section, I found this to be an interesting addition to a book about peace making as I think that although taking care of our planet is for the benefit of us all, the connection with making peace is tenuous at best. Nevertheless, I am happy to say that from reading this section I have actually gained a new hero from this book, Nader Khalili, a man who I will try to find out more about. I have never really thought about the difference that durable, cheap architecture could make and Nader Khalili’s contributions will be helping people for years to come as will Wangari Maathai’s tree planting missions in Kenya and around the rest of the world.

As the biographies of each of these men and women are short and simplified I would say that this book is more geared to a younger audience to be used as a learning tool. I don’t think the authors would have any argument with that assertion. In fact, I do think that may have been their target. Nevertheless, the book is written in a very interesting way and I found myself turning page after page. You might also argue that one could use a book like this in a reference section of a library. It is a good read and the subjects of this book are all good examples of how we should live, treat each other and treat the world.

Heather Chase and Ken Beller seem to have committed their lives to bringing peace to the world wherever they can and writing this book is a product of their commitment. One can never find fault with a work like this. I believe that this book will live up to the intentions of the authors and will live on the shelves of peace loving folk for many years to come!

[Roots & Shoots]

This article was originally published on the website for Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots.

ROOTS & SHOOTS BOOK CLUB September 2008: "Great Peacemakers: True Stories From Around the World"
09/12/2008

With Roots & Shoots Day of Peace at the end of the month, it's the perfect time to read about peacemakers and recognize the ability of each individual to make a commitment to peace.

Published in March 2008, Great Peacemakers: True Stories From Around the World by Ken Beller and Heather Chase tells the inspiring, true-life stories of 20 extraordinary peacemakers from around the world—including our own Dr. Jane, a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2002.

Other featured peacemakers in the book include Indian peace legend Mahatma Gandhi, pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai.

The winner of four National Indie Excellence Book Awards, Great Peacemakers gives readers hope for a peaceful world. While Roots & Shoots members have a lot of great peace project ideas, this book offers readers even more ideas for creating peace in their own lives:

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/igX9DS

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a simple yet intriguing way to learn so much information about the world's leaders. The chapters are short but the information inside is enough to make you feel like you really know about these people and their accomplishments. I read this as a first year undergrad but I think this book could be taught to those in high school so that they can easily understand the important accomplishments of some of the most well known people on our planet without "boring" them with long, redundant books/information.
I highly recommend this book.

[Karina L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know about many of the peacemakers mentioned in this book. Like most persons, I only knew a handful of peacemakers who I have studied/heard about. After reading this book I learned more about other peacemakers around the world.I would definitely recomend this book to anyone intrested in learning more about them. To learn about what many peacemakers went through to try and improve the way the people in their country lived or still, I encourage anyone intrested to read it.

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book and found the stories inspiring. I have a personal connection with the authors. Ken Beller and Heather Chase led a retreat outside in the Nevada Desert that my parents attended a number of years ago which was an 'experience of a lifetime.' My parents, Leo Klug and Claire Dowbiggin-Klug, are recognized in the book's Acknowledgments section for their moral support in the publishing of this book.

[Jordan A. A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

We used this text to teach about peace, peacebuilding and compassion in our Leadership for Social Justice course at my school. The reason I like this book is that it has very short and accessible chapters on great world leaders that the students do not know coming out of high school. It is inspiring supplemental reading for the greater theoretical conversations on current societal and global struggles happening within the course.

[Brandon Fryman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great introduction book on different people who worked towards peace. It hilighted 20 different individuals who all did something different. I would use this book in a introductory peace course, ethics, or even an anthropology class because many of these folks talked about development and equality.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Knew everyone in the first part of the book, second half of the book was with people (and/or their projects) and events I had heard of but did not know the details.

[Shapostrozny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent so far...very interesting short bios on famous peace makers.