Beginning with the achievements of Mahatma Gandhi, and following the legacy of nonviolence through the struggles against Nazism in Europe, racism in America, oppression in China and Latin America, and ethnic conflicts in Africa and Bosnia, Michael Nagler unveils a hidden history. Nonviolence, he proposes, has proven its power against arms and social injustice wherever it has been correctly understood and applied. Nagler's approach is not only historical but also spiritual, drawing on the experience of Gandhi and other activists and teachers. Individual chapters include A Way Out of Hell, The Sweet Sound of Order, and A Clear Picture of Peace. The last chapter includes a five-point blueprint for change and "study circle" guide. The foreword by Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, is new to this edition.

The mature work of one of America's most respected peace scholars and activists, Is There No Other Way follows the legacy of nonviolence from Mahatma Gandhi to the present day. Michael Nagler unveils a hidden worldwide history of leaders and common folks who successfully responded to violence with persuasion, inclusion, and peaceful actions rather than resorting to threats, hatred, and escalating violence. Michael Nagler definitively and eloquently shows that nonviolent action is a proven and effective force against violence and injustice when it is correctly understood and applied. Finally, he explores nonviolent principles in the context of an increasingly violent American society, from school shootings to the Oklahoma City bombing. After reading this book, you will never think of nonviolence in the same way; it's a strategic, effective tactic for creating positive change.

Despite the fact that two of the 20th century's most monumental revolutions achieved their aims through nonviolent action, the world continues to view nonviolence as a passive, ineffectual tactic. In this short and powerful book, renowned peace activist Michael Nagler challenges this assertion, demonstrating that nonviolence succeeds through aggressively strategic and sustained action. It demands greater courage and discipline than violence. Distilling the core theories of nonviolence and drawing deeply from the lives of leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., this action-oriented handbook offers both guidance for nonviolent resistance and advice for building constructive movements capable of restructuring the very bedrock of society. Nagler also includes stories of successful nonviolent resistance that have been ignored by the mass media. The book features a list of resources that offer pathways to immediate action and engagement with the peace movement worldwide.

In the latest fruit of a brilliant career, Michael Nagler argues that nonviolence-not just as a tactic but as a way of being-is the only way to unite deeply divided people and enable progressive movements and leaders of all stripes to fulfil their promise and potential.

That the world needs to take a substantially new direction, and quickly, is no longer controversial for any thoughtful person. A whole new way of seeing the world and our role in its destiny is called for. It's what Michael Nagler and others call the New Story. It rejects the mechanical, capitalist narrative that pits humans against each other and instead turns to a connected and collaborative vision of the future. The final missing piece of the New Story is what Nagler has termed the Third Harmony in human nature: nonviolence. Nonviolence is the only method compatible with the New Story's content and the only power strong enough to move the heart toward this deep and revolutionary change. This book focuses on how a shift to a nonviolence mind-set can be integrated into the very foundations of our understanding of humanity and community, not just on how nonviolence works as a protest tactic.

Why do many U.S. residents, Catholics and Catholic leaders among them, too often fall short of adequately challenging the use of violence in U.S. policy? The opportunities and developments in approaches to peacemaking have been growing at a significant rate. However, violent methods continue to hold significant sway in U.S. policy and society as the commonly assumed way to "peace." Even when community organizers, policymakers, members of Catholic leadership, and academics sincerely search for alternatives to violence, they too often think about nonviolence as primarily a rule or a strategy. Catholic Social Teaching has been moving toward transcending the limits of these approaches, but it still has significant room for growth. In order to contribute to this growth and to impact U.S. policy, McCarthy draws on Jesus, Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan, and King to offer a virtue-based approach to nonviolent peacemaking with a corresponding set of core practices. This approach is also set in conversation with aspects of human rights discourse to increase its possible impact on U.S. policy. As a whole, Becoming Nonviolent Peacemakers offers an important challenge to contemporary accounts of peacemaking in the U.S.

The so-called 'war on terror' has gone badly for the West, playing directly into the strategy of al-Qa'ida and the rest of the terrorist network. Why did this happen? Were there other approaches that might have been implemented with better prospects of success? This edited collection of perspectives on the non-violent counter to terrorism opens the topic to serious consideration. The development of a non-violent paradigm brings into sharp focus the deficiencies of present thinking, and paves the way for comprehending how non-violence might overcome those deficiencies and introduce viable alternatives. Since there is a general ignorance about the history, theory and operational dynamics of non-violence, these aspects are featured throughout the book, and related to the special case of terrorism. To understand empathetically the background and mind-set of the opponent (without condoning his actions), to study his culture, to avoid the strategic trap he has set, to examine the different gender reactions of a Muslim Society, to differentiate between non-violent Islam and Islamic Terrorism, to jettison the misinformed baggage we carry about violence, to appreciate the positive role education and aesthetics can play, and to investigate ways in which a non-violent counter to terrorism might be staged, including a Gandhian response. These are just some of the tasks that the contributors have collectively pursued. Their ideas excitingly open up a whole new set of possibilities for a more peaceful world.