Dissent from War
Robert Ivie
Paperback: 978 1 56549 240 0
Price: $26.00  

Publisher: Kumarian Press
August 2007 , 288 pp., 6" x 9"
The rhetorical presumption of war's necessity makes violence regrettable, but seemingly sane, and functions to shame anyone who opposes military action. Ivie proposes that the presence of dissent is actually a healthy sign of democratic citizenship, and a responsible and productive act, which has been dangerously miscast as a threat to national security.

Ivie, a former US Navy petty officer, puts a microscope to the language of war supporters throughout history and follows the lives and memories of soldiers and anti-war activists who have dealt with degrees of confusion and guilt about their opposition to war. Arguing that informed dissent plays out largely in the realm of rhetoric, he equips readers with strategies for resisting the dehumanizing language used in war propaganda. Through his careful study of language strategies, he makes it possible to foster a community where dissenting voices are valued and vital.

Table of Contents:
1) War Is Easy; 2) A Question of Conscience; 3) A Question of Redemption; 4) A Question of Communication; 5) A Question of Citizenship; 6) Making War Difficult


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Reviews & Endorsements:
"We are used to thinking of history as defined by wars, punctuated by lapses called 'peace.' In this broad-ranging and compelling book, Robert L. Ivie challenges the ways we marginalize dissent from war and peacemaking efforts in general. He focuses our attention on U.S. policy and popular movements, from the Civil War to the present, showing how readily we fall into the patterns of demonizing 'the enemy,' pushing aside those who question the rush to battle, and how inconsistent these patterns are with our deeper yearnings, our national principles, and our religious commitments. Dissent from War helps us not only to see the road not taken but also offers some useful signs for getting there."
- George Cheney, Ph.D., Professor of Communication, Director of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Barbara and Norman Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy, University of Utah
"Bob Ivie’s magnificent book tackles the life-and-death question of our time: how can we transcend the communicative habits of fear-mongering and imperial hubris to create a language of compassion, fraternity, and renewed citizenship? Offering elegant case studies that leap across history, from his family’s heroic efforts during the US Civil War to our collective response to 9/11 and the War on Terror, Ivie chronicles how we talk about peace and war, life and death, reconciliation and recrimination. Ivie thus offers us a brave, eloquent, passionate, and at times sermonic opportunity to begin the hard task of reclaiming democracy from war. This is scholarship at its best, citizenship in action, a call of conscience from one of our most persuasive advocates for peace."
- Stephen John Hartnett, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Illinois