Peace: 50 Years of Protest, 1958-2008 [Hardcover]

One of the most iconic logos created during the last half of the 20th century is what we call "the peace symbol," something so generic and so disseminated that most people have no idea where it came from. Created as a key piece of organizational identity by Gerald Holtom in 1958 for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), both that humble logo and that movement have stood the test of time. The history of the early antinuclear movement, spawned during the deep chill of the Cold War, is meticulously and lovingly presented here.

Written by an insider (Miles was chairman of the Youth CND in the early 1960s) this book offers an excellent overview of the nuclear age and its critics, and then proceeds to show how the movement has grown over the years as geopolitical militarism has changed. He also shows how the logo has been adopted by peace groups, ordinary citizens, and the commercial corporate mainstream. Although much of the story is rooted in England (and rightly so), Miles also discusses how CND issues and tactics spread to the United States and other countries concerned with nuclear proliferation and imperialism. It is overall reasonably well researched and illustrated, no lightweight coffee table book. A minor error - Mary Ann Vecchio, the young woman kneeling over a slain student at Kent State after the National Guard shootings on May 4, 1970 was not herself a Kent State student; she was a high school runaway.

It's ironic to note that the Reader's Digest Association published this book, given that they have generally been seen as holding a right wing bias. George Seldes in his 1943 title Facts and Fascism devoted an entire chapter to the Reader's Digest. In the mid 1950s television episodes featuring anti-Communist themes appeared regularly on TV Reader's Digest, an anthology of 65 half-hour family-oriented Reader's Digest stories dramatized on film. And in 1964 Reader's Digest published an article written by a senior editor called "The Country That Saved Itself" extolling the virtues of the brutal Brazilian military coup and dictatorship. The boxed teaser over the headline shouted:
"Seldom has a major nation come closer to the brink of disaster and yet recovered than did Brazil in its recent triumph over Red subversion. The communist drive for domination - marked by propaganda, infiltration, terror - was moving in high gear. Total surrender seemed imminent - and then the people said No!"

May peace prevail.

I went on the 2nd Aldermaston march with NATSOPA and had a great time. I joined CND for the 2nd time when cruise missiles came to Greenham Common and I have recently re-joined the CND for the 3rd time. This book is a thread of my life including a picture of Phil Ochs. A terrific book to have on your bookshelf for all us peaceniks. One day the world will wake up and say PEACE in a loud voice.

It's hard to imagine that a history of the peace movement from the detonation of the atom bombs over Japan to recent days could have been better done. Even many members of NGO's such as CND, Amnesty, Greenpeace and Friends Of The Earth don't know the story of how we came to be where we are and it's a story well worth the telling.

The bonus is that the book is beautifully presented. I confess I was a little concerned that it's published by Reader's Digest, fearing it might be a little bland. But my concerns were unfounded. Barry Miles makes a fine job of the text and this large book has loads of photographs and artwork to help tell the tale.

The peace movement has surely been one of the most important public movements of the last fifty years. (And one I fear we may be in danger of losing as every large public demonstration now seems to draw people intent on violence, no matter what.) This fine book does the story justice.

May I wish you peace.