The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World's Great Peacemakers

by Scott A. Hunt

Book Overview

In this illuminating journey around the globe, Scott A. Hunt takes us face to face with true heroes including: the Dalai Lama; the famed dissident of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi; and the activist who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062517414
• ISBN13: 9780062517418
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Beyond the power of imagination

Scott successfully took on a monumental task of understanding the view points of peace makers and people who are caught in today's wars. The book is a journey into the most challenging edges of 21st century human psyche. In this journey, there are seemingly real people who are actors compelled to living out scripts that they don't even know they are living them. But there are some people who are aware. These people come across clear and sound as Scott vividly presents his interactions in most captivating manners - simple but graceful. Scott's intentions come across pure. The information he gathered are eye-opening. The stories he tells are startling. Scott outstandingly weaves the history of humanists' thoughts. His account of nations' events makes social and science fictions pale in novelty. Facts indeed beget fiction. Can super powers not be aware of their own action? Are peace makers and Nobel Peace laureates simply instruments of time - when the human spirit can no longer endure the incredible injustice? If you have often asked yourself why people, businesses, and government today have drag the world into the lowest of any moral standards and darkest moments of the human race, this book will be useful to you. It doesn't offers academic answers. It shows you the conditions around the world in a continuity of thought I have not seen. The conversation with the Dalai Lama on non-violence is both amazingly clear and inspiring. It is an account of risk management and decision analysis with enormous grace and solemnity. Expect a team consisting of a journalist, a philosopher, a historian, and a humanist to accomplish anything close to this book. As I put the book down in the stillness of the nights, I am moved beyond the power of my imaginations. - Tom Tuduc

Thought-Provoking and Compassionate

Scott Hunt has written a very moving and almost lyrical book in the way in which he blends some of the the worst horrors committed by humans against fellow beings with the compassion and kindliness of the peacemakers. It gives you a deep sense of hope and conviction that the spirit of humanity will tirumph eventually and inspires you to try hard as it may be to embrace the vices of those who still believe in commiting these violent acts.Marvelouslly,it is also a political eye-opener into the true motivation of the actions taken in the name of peace by the political leaders...

Excellent book

This book is excellent in so many ways. Scott Hunt has given us an inspiring book. I learned so much in historical background and in the work of heroic people of our time.I would urge anyone who wants an understanding of the problems in the world today to buy this book. Once you open it, you will be compelled to read it from cover to cover. If you believe that the answer to all the issues of the world are simple, and that all the world except the US is bad, than I ask you to open your mind and take a look at the world described in these pages. If you believe that killing only creates more killing and there must be a better way, than allow these stories to provoke your mind. The most compelling part of this book to me was the discussion of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. I ask you to please try and understand how it can be that such a monstrous people can be created, and how such horrible things can be done to human beings. This chapter will leave you wondering how you can ever again accept on the surface the "information" we are given. You will realize the consequences of violence. You will search your mind for answers that are not on the news. This book is not perfect. I was left wondering more about the history of Costa Rica than I was given, for example. And there are times when Scott explains things more than I would like. I think he could leave his conclusions to the people he interviews. Others may find that that part of the book helps tie things together. Still, overall the book was outstanding and deserves every bit of 5 stars.

A HUNDRED STAR RATING

The "Future of Peace" is perhaps the most compelling book I have ever read. I was very deeply moved by it. Scott A. Hunt is an outstanding writer and interviewer. He asks insightful questions of prominent peacemakers and receives soul searching, thought provoking answers, with overall themes of hope, forgiveness and perseverance. The interviews are more like informal discussions and I almost felt I was right there. He also gives excellent background information on the various areas of conflict where the peacemakers reside, with facts one doesn't learn in school or read/see often in mainstream news. I kept trying to put it down, so as to absorb each chapter, but had to continue to the end, almost nonstop. It is definately a book to read again and again. If all students, political leaders and citizens of the world read it and took the messages to heart, perhaps we could obtain a more peaceful world. In these troubled and treacherous times, Mr. Hunt and the peacemakers give a message that should be spread throughout the world, both heartbreaking and soul inspiring at the same time. If you are wondering whether to buy "The Future of Peace", just do it! You will be so glad you did!

Should be required reading for everyone

It's so easy to not do anything. It's so easy to not be involved. It's far easier to sit on the couch watching "Friends" than think about the socio-political ramifications of our choices as individuals, as a country and as a world. But thankfully, there are people like Scott Hunt in the world who have an unbelievable drive to ask people to THINK. Consider. Is it really better to go to war? Maybe the answer is ultimately yes in your mind, but isn't it worth a few hours of your time to read this book and contemplate if you've thought through the outcome? To me, this book has been an inspiration to believe that there is hope for peace. I love the first line . . ."Kindness is alive and well, and we have good reason to be hopeful about the future." Scott has given us all excellent food for our brains. It's up to us to take the initiative to read it.