The American History Shelf

War By Other Means
Daniel Akst
Melville House
46 John Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
https://www.mhpbooks.com
9781612199245, $28.99, HC, 384pp

https://www.amazon.com/War-Other-Means-Generation-Revolutionized/dp/1612199= 240

Synopsis: Pacifists who fought against the Second World War faced insurmoun= table odds -- but their resistance, philosophy, and strategies fostered a t= radition of activism that shaped America right up to the present day.

"War By Other Means: The Pacifists of the Greatest Generation Who Revolutio= nized Resistance" is a provocative and deeply researched work of history in=
which Daniel Akst takes his readers into the wild, heady, and uncertain ti= mes of America on the brink of a world war, following four fascinating resi= sters who would subsequently become famous political thinkers and activists=
: David Dellinger, Dorothy Day, Dwight MacDonald, and Bayard Rustin.

The lives of these diverse anti-war advocates (a principled and passionate = seminary student, a Catholic anarchist, a high-brow intellectual leftist, a=
nd an African-American pacifist and agitator) create the perfect prism thro= ugh which to see World War II from a new angle, that of the opposition, as = well as to show how great and lasting their achievements were.

The resisters did not stop the war, of course, but their impact would be fe=
lt for decades. Many of them went on to lead the civil-rights and anti-Viet= nam War movements, the two most important social stands of the second half =
of the twentieth century. The various World War II resisters pioneered non-= violent protest in America, popularized Gandhian principles, and desegregat=
ed the first prison mess halls. Theirs is a story that has never been told =
-- until now.

Critique: Organized into three main section (Before; During; After), "War B=
y Other Means: The Pacifists of the Greatest Generation Who Revolutionized = Resistance" is informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of = twenty-two pages of Notes and a nineteen page Index. A unique contribution =
to our understanding of American in World War II, "War By Other Means" is u= nreservedly recommended for community and academic library World War II his= tory, biography, and social activist collections and supplemental curriculu=
m studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-special= ist general readers with an interest in the subject that "War By Other Mean=
s" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).

Editorial Note: Daniel Akst (http://akst.com) is a writer whose work has ap= peared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Bosto=
n Globe, Slate and other leading publications. He has written scores of boo=
k reviews over the years and was a board member of the National Book Critic=
s Circle. He has been a Koret Fellow at the University of California (Berke= ley) Graduate School of Journalism, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow = Wilson International Center in Washington, DC, and a public policy fellow a=
t the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.

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