On doing good

by Gerald Jonas

Book by Jonas, Gerald

177 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book on Quaker ethics of service. It is separated into three sections: Roots, Cases, and Community. Roots is an excellent historical overview of William Penn's establishment of Pennsylvania in the interests of the Society of Friends, and its progress alongside Pennsylvania's Native Americans and other non-Quaker European settlers. This history shows remarkable favor towards Native Americans, at least until the non-Quaker James Logan is in control of Pennsylvania. After this, the dealings with Pennsylvania's native community became harsher and more one-sided towards the Europeans. This end of the Quaker "Long Peace" marked an unfortunate epoch in once-peaceful relations between Europeans and Natives in North America, unparalleled in history. The next two segments are far less interesting, and the book dates itself. Cases discusses American Friends' Service Committee (the Quaker charity organization) involvement in tenants' unions in Chicago, and intensely intricate records of proceedings. Community discusses Quaker opposition to Selective Service, their involvement in racial politics in the 1960's (which weren't always favored by those whom they were supposedly helping), and their shipment of medical supplies to civilians in both sides of the Vietnam War. These latter two sections are data-driven, but they lack the same flourish and in-depth analysis which the Roots section had, perhaps because the last two sections had happened within a few years of the publication of this book.