Staff Picks

Curious about nonviolence? Grab a cup of tea or coffee and get cozy with one of our staff selections to get you started on your journey.

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance

Review by Shannon Richmond

Combining beautiful charcoal portraits of peace activists with short descriptions of the movements of which they supported, this book is easy to enjoy in small delicious bites, whether you are a youth or adult. Including the Civil Rights Movement, the Antiapartheid Movement, and the Aboriginal Rights Movement among others, this is a great book to read to or with a young person in your life. Another favorite feature of mine is the selected quotations from each peace leader: encouraging and uplifting. Great gift for younger readers!

Long Walk to Freedom

Review by Shannon Richmond

The way in which South Africa transitioned from apartheid to democracy is a model of how strategic nonviolence can work on the national level. This book of Mandela’s stories about his childhood to his first involvement with the African National Congress to his imprisonment on Robben Island where he began writing this autobiography is one of my favorite books for digesting the rich history of South Africa in the twentieth century. The details of Mandela’s and other activists’ choices during this movement can act as a guide for today’s peace-builders.

The Search for a Nonviolent Future

Review by Kit Miller

This book was one of the earliest ones I read on the hope and possibility represented by nonviolence. Michael Nagler is a gifted storyteller as well as teacher who founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at UC Berkeley. He shares the unfolding story of nonviolence as it has played out across the globe over the course of the 20^th century. Michael is a proponent of principled nonviolence and makes the argument for a nonviolent lifestyle very well indeed. I have recommended this book many times as a great place for people to start their nonviolence learning journey.

Film Reviews

The Children’s March

Review by George Payne

The Children’s March is an unforgettable film experience that tells the story of human rights from the bottom up. The film depicts the heroic series of events that occurred in the month of May, in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, in the year 1963, and it will forever be a lasting testament to nonviolent people power! Gifted by superb narration, a superior use of archival footage, and a momentous plot set to rocking soul music, this expertly crafted documentary screens equally well to a classroom of highly educated professionals as it does to an auditorium of underserved adolescents. I highly recommend this resource to all nonviolence educators, religious instructors, elementary and high school teachers, and anyone else who is passionate about the history of civil rights in America.