The Nonviolence Handbook ─ A Guide for Practical Action

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.

Michael N. Nagler is the founder and president of the Metta Center for Nonviolence. He cofounded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at UC Berkeley, where he is professor emeritus of classics and comparative literature. Among other awards, he received the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation’s International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values outside India in 2007, joining other distinguished contributors to nonviolence such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which received a 2002 American Book Award. A popular speaker, he speaks to colleges, religious institutions, and other groups.

Ann Wright is Col., US Army (ret) and recipient, State Department Award for Heroism.