Overview

""It's time that someone broke into the general gloom created by a war-loving administration and reminded us that we are a peace-loving people. Paul Joseph's book does just that, not with fantasy but with facts, showing how the public antipathy to war, suppressed too long by propaganda and deception, is coming to the surface, and offers hope."" Howard Zinn ""In this antidote to despair, Joseph shows how even the most sophisticated efforts of US political and military leaders to maintain public support for war are flawed and doomed to failure in the face of an increasingly skeptical public that is unwilling to accept the costs."" William A. Gamson, Boston College ""An original and thought-provoking perspective on one of the most important issues in American politics today."" Michael Klare, Hampshire College Are Americans becoming more peaceful -- even after the 2004 elections and the seeming affirmation of the war in Iraq? This book looks at the meaning of peace in the face of war and offers an optimistic interpretation of the public's changing views. US citizens are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the costs of war that can be measured not just in dollars but in lives and international respect. Americans are becoming ever more resistant to government management of the ""facts"" surrounding war. In areas ranging from media and photojournalism to gender and casualties, Joseph exposes the reality of popular opposition to war.

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9781594513008

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Reviews

It's time that someone broke into the general gloom created by a war-loving administration and reminded us that we are a peace-loving people. Paul Joseph's book does just that, not with fantasy but with facts, showing how the public antipathy to war, suppressed too long by propaganda and deception, is coming to the surface, and offers hope. Paul Joseph has made me rethink militarization. Here in Are Americans Becoming More Peaceful? Joseph demonstrates persuasively exactly how much effort U.S. officials have invested in making Americans see the world as fearsome and wars as low cost. That suggests that they think that most Americans are not naturally inclined toward militarism. What a fresh insight this is! It should set off a lot of lively and valuable public conversation. -- Cynthia Enloe, author of Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives In this antidote to despair, Joseph shows how even the most sophisticated efforts of U.S. political and military leaders to maintain public support for war are flawed and doomed to failure in the face of an increasingly skeptical public that is unwilling to accept the costs. -- William A. Gamson, Professor of Sociology, Boston College Paul Joseph's reading of the U.S. public as being more peaceful than the U.S. government is certainly welcome to those who have suffered the destructive actions of the U.S. military. Let all of us hope that the peaceful side of the public has a major influence on the government itself. -- Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor, City of Hiroshima In Are Americans Becoming More Peaceful? Paul Joseph provides an original and thought-provoking perspective on one of the most important issues in American politics today: the growing divide between the Bush administration's determination to employ military force on a global scale and the American public's growing disinclination to fight imperial wars abroad. In one revealing chapter after another, he shows how the prowar camp seeks to overcome public resistance to overseas warmaking, concluding with a plea for a new foreign policy that reflects the good sense (and anti-militarism) of the American people. -- Michael Klare, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College

Author Information

Paul Joseph is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at Tufts University. He is the author of several books on Vietnam, nuclear weapons policy, and the security debate after the end of the Cold War.

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