Why War Is Never a Good Idea

the illustrations are gorgeous. This book shows children the dark side of war, for a change, without making it scary or overwhelming to them. I read it to my son who is four years old. He was interested in the book and wanted to discuss it's content as we read. I've often wondered how I would explain war to him; this book got a dialogue started. We checked it out at the library, I am so pleased with it that I am going to buy it.

"And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates, well, there ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die" -- Country Joe McDonald "Though War speaks Every language It never knows What to say To frogs." In her latest picture book, WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA, Alice Walker personifies War, and through a series of verses she reveals the terrible costs and far reaching effects of War's behavior. WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA will undoubtedly be a very controversial book. I mean, it is one thing to argue over whether or not the war we are in right now is or ever was a good idea. But come on! If any of us were alive in America two hundred and thirty years ago, wouldn't we jump at the chance to get our hands on a muzzle-loading rifle and shoot a ball of lead through the facial features and cheekbone and into the brains of some British family's eighteen-year-old son? I don't care if you're male or female, when it came down to it and the rich white merchants and slave-owning planters had instigated a revolution, wouldn't you have been prepared and psyched to jam a bayonet through the clothing, skin, and stomach muscles, and then in through the vital organs of some teenage creep from across the ocean who was wearing the wrong color uniform? "But if we didn't do it." students might argue in response, "We'd never have become free. We'd still be part of England now!" And, responding back, I would offer to organize a debate on the subject after those students had taken the time to prepare by reading from a list of books about the ideas and politics and world events that led to the Revolutionary War such as Natalie Bober's COUNTDOWN TO INDEPENDENCE: A REVOLUTION OF IDEAS IN AMERICA AND HER AMERICAN COLONIES: 1760-1776, or Marc Aronson's THE REAL REVOLUTION: THE GLOBAL STORY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. "It's always the old to lead us to the war Always the young to fall" -- Phil Ochs Thus, a discussion of WAR IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA is likely to involve students questioning whether certain wars were actually good wars based upon good ideas, and the teacher or parent who has got his or her act together will channel that inquiry into student research in preparation for waves of great group learning. It doesn't matter whether we are talking about the Revolutionary War or Little Big Horn or Hitler or Vietnam there are great books in print that will lead students to root causes and -- if we're lucky -- have students recognize that something happened before the war to cause it and something happened before that which lead to the causes which led to the war (See my recent review of PREVIOUSLY by Allan Ahlberg.), and that what is going on in the country and the world today -- this very day -- will either lead to a future war somewhere for some reason or will not lead there based upon the decisions of those who we have elected to public office. Higher order thinking is necessary for students to achieve understanding of this Big Picture -- the interrelat

Not surprisingly, a reviewer criticized Alice Walker for asserting that war is never a good idea. He suggested that she'd be "cotton pickin'" if not for war. Truth is, there is a lot of debate concerning what the Civil War was actually about, and what is accomplished A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom (A New Press People's History). Some felt it was a "rich man's war, and a poor man's battle." A battle that was followed by continued oppression of African Americans through bigotry, lynchings, Jim Crow laws, etc. - right up until today, where we find hundreds of thousands of African Americans in cages largely due to a war on non-corporate drugs Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In The Lives Of African-American Men; and the plantation owners simply outsourced their slaves to other parts of the globe Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. So, it can be debated how much freedom has been achieved, not just for blacks, but for humanity as a whole. While we may not have chains around our ankles, most of us spend our lives as what old-school Republicans would've called "wage slaves." Moreover, there is the compulsion that comes from modern economic feudalism, indebtedness, and a corporate media/PR industry that manages our perceptions of the world and manipulates our emotions Adbusters. Obviously, World War I did not "end all wars." Vietnam was a massive slaughter - with the butchery expanding into Laos and Cambodia. Many would argue that World War II did not end fascism The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism (The Political Economy of Human Rights - Volume I) Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II In fact, the "land of the free" has military operations going on all over the world that the general public is completely unaware of; but that authors like Robert Kaplan are proud of (see Kaplan's "Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military, from Mongolia to the Philippines, to Iraq and beyond"). This endless, global aggression has been decimating exactly the sort of wonderful communities that Walker's words and Stefano Vitale's illustrations pay tribute to. While some find their identity and purpose (and financial gain) in war War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, many veterans have learned first-hand to hate war and want it abolished Howard Zinn on War. Sadly, it appears that the war profiteers and those who subscribe to the dominator narrative will continue to bring us to armed conflict Why We Fight. In this current era of psychotic, industrialized violence, there are instances when armed resistance can be understood When the Mountains Tremble. Yet, even in those rare instances of a "just" war, it is still not a "good" thing, often proves counter-productive, and has negative ramifications (physical, psychic and environmental) for years to come. To

I had the distinct pleasure of listening to the author read her book at Town Hall today. There's something added when an author reads her work; something more when she knows how to read well. In a culture where the Martian god of war is worshiped, where we are told to be all we can be, to be strong, to be an army of one, this book is a helpful corrective. Again and again our culture teaches us from the youngest ages to resort to violence and war- it is the practical and reasonable solution. There is so little out there like Alice Walker's work, teaching the youngest that there is actually an alternative. The poetry itself is moving and inspiring. It rolls off the tongue and enters the soul. And the pictures- they are exquisite. The jungle is shown in all of it's intense and multi-layered beauty. And equally so we are presented with vivid horrors of war. This is not imagery that will frighten little children or disgust adults, but rather something that shows war to be the ugliness it is, in a way even a little child can understand. And as long as we are called to be like little children, this is a book that even an adult can understand as well. Also recommended: How to Teach Peace to Children

On the surface this book appears to be for a child ... the illustrations are excellently executed and provide sub-text, but the theme is adult and universal and, given the sad state of global affairs, the pictures may be helpful for comprehension by even our governmental "leaders" and "war mongers." I recommend this highly for any age, gender, ethnicity, or social standing. Bravo! to Ms. Alice Walker.Why War Is Never a Good Idea