Peace in Our Time

Melko argues that the developed countries are on neither the brink of catastrophe nor ``the launching pad of unimaginable attainment'' but are well into a period of relative peace and stability that will continue for another six to 10 decades. He's not so sanguine about the Third World. Analyzing the current ``remission of violence'' in the ``have'' countries as opposed to the turmoil in the Third World, he notes that there have been more than 12 million war deaths in the latter since 1945 and fewer than 100,000 in the former. More controversial are assertions that peaceful societies are often ruled by governments that conduct foreign wars; that world peace has not been seriously threatened since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis; that the suppression of freedom envisioned by Orwell ``does not seem to be a problem, and that political freedom is not essential to a productive life in any case.'' Aggressively thought-provoking, this volume rewards the effort required to follow its author's often meandering reasoning. Melko is a professor of sociology and anthropology at Wright State University. (Feb.)