A History of U.S. Pacifism

With much skill, Peter Brock has sought to tie together the many strands in the history of American pacifism from colonial times to 1914. Much of the material will be familiar to the students of the American peace movement, and a considerable part builds on earlier works of E. N. Wright, Devere Allen, and many others. Perhaps the most original chapters deal with such groups as the Mennonites, Amish, and Shakers. At times, however, one tends to get so lost in detail that the major themes are forgotten.

The antecedents of American pacifism, of course, lay in the European background of Anabaptism, the Quakerism of the seventeenth century, and, more remotely, in the attitudes of early Christians.

Pacifist-oriented groups played...