World peace? NAH - just a utopian pipe dream. That's what I thought, too, until I read this book. One of the authors (Ferencz) grew up ghetto tough, fought in WWII, witnessed nazi atrocities, and had the honor of serving as an attorney in the Nuremberg war trials.He went on to study international law, and came to the conclusion that world peace does have a chance, if people will insist on it. It would take a framework of international law, and some capability for enforcing that law, but IT COULD WORK.He gives examples, quotes from great thinkers, quotes from great leaders and generals, and spells out an action plan for getting from here to there. You read the book, and you think - maybe for the first time - "Hey, maybe this could work".I buy used copies and give them away. I wish everyone could read this book. Tomorrow. Boy, there is a lot of stuff that could be fixed, if everyone would expose themselves to these ideas.Got kids? Want them to have a world free of the threat of global war? Want them to have a world where pollution and environmental abuse are subject to global control (rather than based on the greed and myopia of the population where the abuse occurs)? You NEED to read this book!Ferencz is not claiming that he can change human nature - that is not the point. Instead, his plan is to replace the law of force (between nations) with the force of law. It has been done before, to a limited degree (in the Constitution of this great country). It is still happening, each time we find some new opportunity for international accord. But it is happening too slowly. We can all speed the process up, and this book will give you some ideas and excitement about doing so.If you read it and get the fever, write me at relaskop@aol.com - I will be glad to hear your thoughts.Terry Fethe
The Key to World Peace
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
This book was extraordinarily helpful to me and made a world federalist of me. I bought 100 copies (I think they were 50 cents at the time) and handed them out to my friends. The book helped me see that just as Maryland is not at war with Pennsylvania because we have a federal government to deal with interstate disputes, so we would not have wars between nations if we had a strong world federal government. This would include a criminal court that could bring individuals as well as nations into the courtroom when international laws were broken, such as laws against drug trafficking and terrorism. The authors give an analogy of the "wild west" where people settled before governments (and therefore laws) were established, where guns ruled and civilization was difficult to maintain. This book helped me to compose a number of letters to the editor of our local paper over the years. The logic is so simple and obvious, yet I find that most people, even those in the peace movement, are not tuned in to this issue. I wish the book would be reissued and offered cheap in bulk once again. If cheap enough, I would certainly buy another 100 copies and give them away.
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