Approaches to Peace: A Reader

"For those endeavoring to approach peace, there is no shortage of challenges, practical as well as intellectual. Fortunately, there is also no shortage of inspiration and insight."--From the preface

Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, Second Edition, provides a unique and interdisciplinary sampling of key articles and short literary selections focusing on the diverse facets of peace and conflict studies. Featuring both classic and contemporary work, it enables students to read highly influential articles while also introducing them to the most current perspectives in the field. Timeless classics from Leo Tolstoy, the Bhagavad Gita, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Henry David Thoreau are included alongside contemporary pieces by Johan Galtung, Betty Reardon, and many others. Updated to address current concerns, the second edition incorporates seventeen new articles, including selections from Al Gore on climate change, Jeffrey Sachs on Third World economies, and Desmond Tutu on reconciliation. A new chapter on terrorism offers work from Eqbal Ahmad, Richard Falk, Samuel Huntington, and others.
Ideal on its own as a foundation text in any introductory peace studies course, Approaches to Peace, Second Edition, is also compact enough to use as a supplement with more specialized readings. Each selection is prefaced by a short introduction highlighting the author's background, the work's historical context, and the selection's significance in terms of the "big picture." Study questions and a list of suggested readings at the end of each selection also provide useful resources for students.

David P. Barash is a Professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Psychology (PhD Zoology, UW Madison, 1970). Prolific author in the areas of peace studies, violence, antinuclear activism, and evolutionary psychology, gender and fidelity studies. He is the author of 25 books and more than 200 journal articles, and has been instrumental in establishing Peace Studies as a legitimate academic discipline. Recent works include Natural Selections: Honest Liars, Selfish Altruists and Other Realities of Evolution (Bellevue Literary Press, 2007); Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature (Delacorte, 2005); The Survival Game: How Game Theory Explains Cooperation and Competition (Holt/Times Books, 2003); with wife Judith Lipton, Gender Gap: The Biology of Male-Female Differences (Transnational Pub, 2002); The Myth of Monogamy (WHFreeman, 2001; Paper Holt/Times Books, 2002).