Description
Book SynopsisA collection of American antiwar speeches from every major conflict starting with the Mexican-American War. Includes critical analyses, biographical and bibliographical information, and an appendix describing common rhetorical devices used by antiwar speakers.
Trade Review“Jesse Stellato's splendid collection of antiwar speeches, Not in Our Name, presents material unique to the literature of protest and dissent, one of the glories of American letters and a tribute to the power of open democracy and the First Amendment. Stellato's analysis and commentary reveal rich veins of political rhetoric, some more familiar, some unjustly forgotten, while opening up the larger question of how language that is consciously crafted can shape national life and foreign policy. Here the decisions of government may conflict with the will of its citizens. Reading these speeches, we realize that the exercise of power and the power of the aesthetic, the practice of historical interpretation and the creativity of literature, often inhabit the same words.”
—James Engell,Harvard University
“As a longtime antiwar activist and a rhetorical historian who studies U.S. empire, I welcome this project with a glad heart and open arms—finally, an anthology to help America remember its long and rich history of opposing war. Taken as a whole, I suspect that the book will become an instant classic. Its breadth is impressive.”
—Stephen Hartnett,University of Colorado Denver
“This interesting, well-crafted book is a welcome addition to the literature on antiwar dissent. It will appeal to scholars and general readers who are interested in the American antiwar tradition, in rhetoric, and in the culture of dissent.”
—Scott H. Bennett The Historian
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Editor’s Note
Introduction
1 Mexican-American War
Theodore Parker Delivers “A Sermon of War”
Charles Sumner Calls for the Withdrawal of American Troops from Mexico
Abraham Lincoln Inveighs Against President Polk
2 Civil War
Clement Vallandigham Argues That the War Cannot Be Won
Alexander Long Proposes Peace at Any Price
3 Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection
Moorfield Storey Warns of a Dangerous and Growing Militarism
Charles Eliot Norton Defines “True Patriotism”
Carl Schurz Discusses the Perils Faced by an Occupying Force
Charles Eliot Norton Accuses America of “Counterfeit Patriotism”
4 World War I
William Jennings Bryan Resigns as Secretary of State to Launch an Antiwar Crusade
George Norris Assails the Senate’s War Resolution
Robert La Follette Argues That the War Lacks Popular Support
Kate Richards O’Hare Discusses the War’s Degradation of Women
Eugene V. Debs Argues That the Working Class Will “Furnish the Corpses” of War
5 World War II
Norman Thomas Discusses War’s Effect on Civil Liberties
Richard Wright Justifies AfricanAmerican Opposition to World War II
Charles Lindbergh Asks, “Who Are the War Agitators?”
6 Korean War
Paul Robeson Declares That Blacks Will Never Fight the Soviet Union
W. E. B. Du Bois Runs for Congress on a Peace Platform
7 Vietnam War
Martin Luther King Jr. Urges Americans to Go “Beyond Vietnam”
Eugene J. McCarthy Celebrates the “Spirit of 1963”
Robert F. Kennedy Says of the War in Vietnam: “It Must Be Ended”
Shirley Chisholm Demands “People and Peace, Not Profits and War”
Fannie Lou Hamer Rallies Antiwar Students at Berkeley
John Kerry Testifies on Behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War
8 War on Terror
Barbara Lee Pleads with the House Not to “Become the Evil That We Deplore”
Barack Obama Criticizes a “Dumb War”
Noam Chomsky Asks, “Why Iraq?”
Robert Byrd Chastises the Senate for Standing “Passively Mute”
Epilogue: The Globalization of Dissent
Arundhati Roy Rails Against “Imperial Democracy”
Appendix A: Full-Text Sources
Appendix B: Rhetorical Devices in Antiwar Speeches
Notes
Biographical and Bibliographical Notes
Index
Credits
