Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War »

Throughout most of the 20th century, from World War I until his death in 1993, America poet and pacifist William Stafford remained convinced that wars don’t work. In his poetry and other writing, he showed that it is crucial to think independently when fanatics act and to speak for reconciliation when nations take sides. This inspiring volume collects the antiwar writings of this lifelong advocate for peace: journal excerpts, pacifist poems, interviews, and an account of his own near-hanging at the hands of American patriots. In thought-provoking passages sure to strike a chord today, he assesses U.S. political habits and suggests that there are always alternative approaches to aggression. This powerful book about nonviolence includes never-before-published excerpts from William Stafford's daily journal from 1951 to 1991.

Library Journal

"Is it naive to seek national and international security through poetry?" asks Kim Stafford in his introduction to a book that celebrates his father's pacifist ideology. Published ten years after William Stafford's death, it is a fitting tribute to a lifelong pacifist and socially responsible American poet. Stafford uses his father's poems, as well as interviews and daily reflections, to show how dedicated he was to turning minds away from war and how firmly he believed that weapons of steel were never the answer. The book opens with a chapter from Down in My Heart (1947), which recalls a formative time in William Stafford's development as a pacifist and writer and the four years he spent in conscientious objector camps during World War II. The book ends with excerpts from interviews that touch on more contemporary wars, Vietnam and the Gulf. Essentially an intimate and focused study, the book captures many of the poet's scribbled thoughts, but his poetry and its antiwar message remain at the heart of it. Timely and relevant, it will speak vividly to many struggling to understand the fate of the post-9/11 world. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Maria Kochis, California State Univ. Lib., Sacramento Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.