Synopses & Reviews
We Who Dared to Say No to War uncovers some of the forgotten but compelling body of work from the American antiwar traditionspeeches, articles, poetry, book excerpts, political cartoons, and morefrom people throughout our history who have opposed war. Beginning with the War of 1812, these selections cover every major American war up to the present and come from both the left and the right, from religious and secular viewpoints. There are many surprises, including a forgotten letter from a Christian theologian urging Confederate President Jefferson Davis to exempt Christians from the draft and a speech by Abraham Lincoln opposing the 1848 Mexican War. Among others, Daniel Webster, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Grover Cleveland, Eugene Debs, Robert Taft, Paul Craig Roberts, Patrick Buchanan, and Country Joe and the Fish make an appearance. This first-ever anthology of American antiwar writing offers the full range of the subjects richness and variety.
Review
Texas Observer "Turns out strange bedfellows are common in the history of American anti-war sentiment, as evidenced in the new anthology We Who Dared to Say No To War.... Together [Polner and Woods have] assembled almost two centuries' worth of writing condemning American military actions from the War of 1812 to more recent misadventures in the Middle East, while celebrating the fact that the noble cause of peace in this country has often attracted wildly opposing un-likes.... Democracy and war, these pieces collectively suggest, may be the strangest, and worst, bedfellows of all."
BuzzFlash.com
"We stopped counting the number of wonderful advocates of peace in this book. It's like finally finding a kindred group of like minds with whom you can feel at home.... This is an anthology well worth the read. It might also help you feel that peace is a battle worth waging, so to speak."
OpEdNews.com
"Read it and weep ... and cheer. Weep because we've been lied into wars in very similar ways for two centuries and have had to discover the deception anew each time. Cheer because some people have been there to denounce the lies on the spot every time, and their ranks have steadily grown."
Library Journal
"History repeats itself, and Polner and Woods remind us that both Leftist dissent against jingoism and Rightist opposition to governments swollen by war run throughout American history."
Booklist
"Representing both sides of the ideological divide, editors Polner and Woods have collected a vast and varied array of speeches, essays, letters, poetry, even popular song lyrics, from our country's greatest leaders and civilians to illustrate the indelible and instinctive response war-mongering and war evoke.... With current antiwar rhetoric...running at a fevered pitch, such historical documentation demonstrates, sadly, that it is also running true to course."
Scott McConnell, editor of The American Conservative
"You don't have to oppose all American wars to appreciate Tom Woods and Murray Polner's masterful anthology. These essays vividly demonstrate why 'dissent is patriotic' is no mere peacenik slogan."
Bob Keeler, Newsday Editorial Board
"Standing up to the rhetoric of war is never easy. We Who Dared to Say No to War provides today's private-citizen peacemakers and public officials with the valuable assurance that others have spoken prophetically against wars for most of our nation's history. Polner and Woods deserve our deep gratitude for assembling these brave speeches from wars past."
Rick Shenkman, Author of Just How Stupid Are We?
"While it is the warmakers who usually garner public attention, Polner and Woods remind us that the peacemakers often have had more to say. For it is they who speak to our conscience. In times like these, it is reassuring to know that our history is filled with people who questioned war and asked: why?"
WIN Magazine
"Polner and Woods have pored through diaries, speeches, and newspapers and dug into old archives to bring together 70 impassioned, learned, and probing rejections of war as a means of solving problems, ending violence, and bringing peace and democracy."
TownHall.com
"We Who Dared To Say No To War reminds us that our anti-war streak is a lot wider, deeper and more all-American than today's flag-waving proponents of the Iraq war think."
History News Network
"Editors Murray Polner and Thomas E. Woods, Jr. remind us that those opposed to President George W. Bush's adventure in Iraq are part of an antiwar tradition in American history well established before it was rediscovered by the Vietnam generation."<>
Synopsis
Antiwar Patriots brings together some of the greatest-if largely forgotten-writings of the American antiwar tradition, from the War of 1812 to the present. Featured is Daniel Webster, one of America’s great orators, denouncing military conscription in 1814 as unconstitutional and immoral, two years after Congress and President James Madison joined forces to declare war against Great Britain and its Canadian colony. The authors’ treatment of the Mexican War includes a forgotten antiwar speech by Abraham Lincoln, as well as the senate’s censure of President James Polk for having launched a war under false pretenses, and early protests by the war’s opponents out of fear that it would help expand slavery.
Synopsis
The first-ever anthology of American antiwar writing: from 1812 to the present, covering the entire political spectrum and the complete history of U.S. wars.
About the Author
Murray Polner has had a rich and varied career as a teacher, college professor, writer and editor. He is the author of When Can I Come Home. His writings have also appeared in the New York Times, Newsday, the Washington Post, Commonweal, The Nation, Village Voice and the Boston Globe. He lives in Great Neck, New York. Thomas E.Woods, Jr. works for the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. His writings have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Investor’s Business Daily, and Human Rights Review.