War By Other Means

Praise

“Akst argues that the modern progressive movement, wide-ranging in its causes and narratives today, has origins in the pacifist response to American involvement in World War II… At its best, one gets the sense of generative force born from such intense intellectual, moral and religious pressure.” — The Washington Post

“In focusing on four pacifists who fought against the war rather than fighting in it … Akst wants us to consider what it meant to take an unpopular (and often illegal) stand against arguably the last war Americans widely supported.” — The Los Angeles Times

“Akst provides fascinating biographical sketches of his protagonists…They taught Americans to be wary of authority, consolidation and dehumanization.” — The Star Tribune

“This text is an important, detailed and captivatingly told history of an under examined piece of US history. It raises questions about war and peace, allegiance and conscience, nation and humanity. It is certainly worth your time.” — Counterpunch

“Akst convincingly places his protagonists in a lineage of antiauthoritarian activism that runs from Thoreau to the 1960s counterculture and beyond. This history casts the Greatest Generation in a new light.” — Publishers Weekly

“A worthy exploration of a little-known episode in the history of American involvement in WWII.” — Kirkus Reviews

The stories of the brave people in this book are a profoundly important, and unduly ignored, part of modern American history. Daniel Akst tells them with grace and scope, showing how the convictions of his characters carried them through their whole lives, and into some of the most important battles for social justice of our time. —Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost

Daniel Akst has written an engaging and eloquent book about American pacifists in times that tried their world-views. He tells a morally complicated, compelling story that will intrigue especially anyone interested in 20th century American intellectual and political history. –-Mitchell Cohen, former co-editor of Dissent; author of The Politics of Opera

Dan Akst liberates the history of World War II-era pacifism from familiar “Greatest Generation” narratives. Buoyed by anti-authoritarianism and nonviolent theology, antiwar activists—ranging from David Dellinger and Dorothy Day to Bayard Rustin and Dwight MacDonald—passionately opposed the conflict. With lucid prose, Akst explains how their resistance planted the seeds for the modern progressive movement. –Betsy Wood, author of Upon the Altar of Work