Women on War: An International Anthology of Writings from Antiquity to the Present
*Starred Review* As long as our species has made war, individuals have spoken out against it, and women are prominent among those who argue cogently and eloquently for peace. Now that weapons of mass destruction have made war a truly apocalyptic prospect, the call for nonviolent resolutions to world conflicts is all the more urgent, and the voices in this powerful and important collection (an extensively revised and updated version of an earlier volume) are all the more precious. Gioseffi, a prizewinning poet, activist, and educator, sets the scene for this invaluable anthology in a bracing introduction that traces the enormous shadow militarism casts across our planet and our lives, from the immediate tragedies of war to the environmental damage caused by military industries and the poverty exacerbated by huge military expenditures. The poems, essays, eyewitness accounts, and probing inquiries that follow are dramatic and knowledgeable, forthright and reasonable, full of compassion and accepting of responsibility, a diverse and inspiring gathering of writers of conscience including Jane Addams, Martha Gellhorn, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Arundhati Roy, Grace Paley, Claribel Alegria, Toni Morrison, Helen Caldicott, and dozens more who courageously question the necessity and protest the insanity of global violence.Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved