Why Now?: The Evolution of a Conscientious Objector - Softcover

Swain, Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 098522570X ISBN 13: 9780985225704

Publisher: Shook Rick Press, 2012

Synopsis

Why Now? Out of the 9,000 men and women serving in our military during World War II, 12,000 refused to participate and bore the stigma of Conscientious Objector. Another 5,000 refused to register and spent time in prison. The author believes there are conditions and events unique to this century whose momentums and trajectories may negatively alter the course of civilizations as we experience it. He also believes the majority is dimly aware of these forces, but has not understood the serious consequences should some of these trajectories intersect. The possibility of nuclear war demands the majority pay attention to what pacifists and conscientious objectors have been living and saying. To believe nuclear weapons will not be used because of their extreme destructive power, is to deny history and humanity's embedded habit of war and our biological response to it. World War III can be stopped only by the refusal of its citizens to participate. The author believes that in this century conscientious objection to war may be on of the few viable alternatives to the self-destruction of civilization.

About this title

About the Author

The author, a lifetime pacifist, during World War II, served for four years in camps for conscientious objectors fighting forest fires in western states. The objectors received no pay for their efforts. His boyhood was spent on a small farm in middle Indiana. His parents and ancestors were members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He and his wife Mardi, homesteaded on 40 acres of woods and pasture in Brown County Indiana in 1947. In the process of building their home, he discovered he had a talent for visualization and became a designer and builder of homes. Sixty years later, they are in the same location. Writing is an avocation that has become a vocation in his retirement years. For twelve years he has written a monthly feature for Our Brown County magazine and a book, Leaves for the raking in 2001. It is a compilation of essays, stories, and poetry from the hills of Brown County. Why Now?, while quite different from Leaves, comes from observations on how the world works viewed from his secluded haven in the woods. He feels compelled to produce this book as a warning that if we fail to assess world forces that are unique to this century, we do so at our own peril.

Edition details

• Publisher: Shook Rick Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 098522570X
• ISBN 13: 9780985225704
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 140