Peace: A Dream Unfolding

In their introduction, Lown and Chazov, Nobel Peace Prizewinners and founders of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, liken the nuclear arms buildup of the superpowers to a ""cancer'' and state that ``pointing nuclear-tipped missiles at entire nations is an unprecedented act of moral depravity.'' The rest of this lavish, colorful book alternately celebrates humanity and warns against the dangers noted by Lown and Chazov. The text consists of many hundreds of sayings, accounts, stories, poems, selections from books, journals and periodicals that span time and place. Contributors include Thoreau, Freud, Aristophanes, Tolstoi, de Toqueville, Thomas Merton, Goethe, Andrei Sakharov. Retired Navy admiral Gene LaRoque states that ``war is a very dumb way to settle differences between nations. And nuclear war is utterly insane.'' Margaret Atwood contributes a poem called ``Machine. Gun. Nest.'' Robert McNamara writes that ``Star Wars'' offers ``no solution to our present dilemma.'' Robert Lifton notes that ``weapons are a product of the human imagination, and human imagination is capable of getting rid of them.'' The text is accompanied by many expressive drawings, paintings, photographs, sketches. 30,000 ad/promo; first serial to Omni; QPBC and Nature Book Society selections. (November)