A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict
By and
544 pp. New York:
St. Martin's Press, Inc. $29.95 (hc).
"Power Grows out of the barrel of a gun," announced Mao Zedong, the Communist leader of the Cultural Revolution in China. With that brief rationale for violent force, he presumably won agreement from adversaries who agreed with him on almost nothing else. Clearly unpersuaded, however, are authors Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall. Their book, A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict, traces a series of confrontations—scattered across the last century and around the globe—that tested the potency of nonviolent resistance to tyranny. As the stories unfold, the book also redefines the meaning of power in ways foreign, but applicable, to the Mao Zedongs and Adolph Hitlers of this world. And to the rest of us as well.
The case for nonviolent protest isn't made through moral polemic in this book. Rather, the authors survey history and report back what they've found. And they're candid. Every instance isn't a success story. Still, Ackerman and DuVall see in these narratives indications pointing toward a future of peace and healing for nations. The introduction states: "This is a tale of ten decades, of popular movements battling entrenched regimes or military forces with weapons very different from guns and bullets....
