Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War - by Jeremy Varon (Hardcover)

About the Book

"An original history of the popular movement against the War on Terror-the greatest case of "we told you so" in modern political history. Just after 9/11, President George W. Bush climbed the rubble where the World Trade Center had stood. Surrounded by shouts of anger, he said, "The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" With these words, Bush ushered in the War on Terror. Quickly, a global protest movement mobilized against it, reshaping the political, moral, and media landscape. Jeremy Varon's Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War is the definitive history of that movement. Millions of Americans participated in thousands of acts of protest, from demonstrations to civil disobedience to peace encampments in Iraq. On February 15, 2003, up to 30 million people worldwide took to the streets in the largest protest in human history. But this enormous outcry was not enough to stop the US invasion of Iraq. Varon explores the limits to the movement's power but also shows how it worked to make opposition to the Iraq War a part of public debate, hastening its end and limiting the broader War on Terror. In the book, you'll meet the families of the 9/11 victims, Iraq War veterans, and Gold Star families who spoke out against war. Written with a lively and revelatory voice, Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War illuminates the passion of the peace movement, the mark it made, and the enduring legacies of the War on Terror"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

An original history of the popular movement against the War on Terror--the greatest case of "we told you so" in modern political history.

Just after 9/11, President George W. Bush climbed the rubble where the World Trade Center had stood. Surrounded by shouts of anger, he said, "The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" With these words, Bush ushered in the War on Terror. Quickly, a global protest movement mobilized against it, reshaping the political, moral, and media landscape.

Jeremy Varon's Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War is the definitive history of that movement. Millions of Americans participated in thousands of acts of protest, from demonstrations to civil disobedience to peace encampments in Iraq. On February 15, 2003, up to 30 million people worldwide took to the streets in the largest protest in human history. But this enormous outcry was not enough to stop the US invasion of Iraq. Varon explores the limits to the movement's power but also shows how it worked to make opposition to the Iraq War a part of public debate, hastening its end and limiting the broader War on Terror. In the book, you'll meet the families of the 9/11 victims, Iraq War veterans, and Gold Star families who spoke out against war.

Written with a lively and revelatory voice, Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War illuminates the passion of the peace movement, the mark it made, and the enduring legacies of the War on Terror.

Review Quotes

"Varon's history of the 21st century's first major antiwar mobilization, a mass movement almost entirely ignored by the corporate media, eloquently captures the depth, creativity, and commitment with which peacemakers around the world confronted the so-called Global War on Terror. While official propaganda and a parade of retired generals on cable news boosted endless, a vibrant peace movement grew. Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War is a deep and essential account of the global antiwar movement, and a timely reminder in this era of rising authoritarianism that there is a force more powerful, that of organized people committed to peace."--Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

"Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War is an engaging and illuminating examination of both the unfolding of the post-9/11 War on Terror and activists' varied efforts to build a movement to oppose, forestall, and undermine Bush's wars. In this two-pronged exploration, Varon reminds us that resistance and organizing matter--and can be powerful and uplifting--even if they do not fully succeed." --Allyson P. Brantley, author of 'Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism'

"This book is more than an exposé of a criminal war; it is a necessary warning for all those who struggle for a more peaceful world today and tomorrow."--Tom Morello, guitarist, songwriter, and political activist

"Varon has done an exceptional job in giving us the first true history of the larger antiwar movement. Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War is an excellent blend of intellectual and peace history--a meeting of the two, as I see it." --Henry Maar, author of 'Freeze! The Grassroots Movement to Halt the Arms Race and End the Cold War'

"An insightful and unprecedented look into an evolving, modern anti-war movement through the lens of the heroic and sustained efforts to stop the so-called 'War on Terror.' Varon expertly shepherds the reader through anti-war movement context, strategy and tactics which evolved at the lightning speed of the illegal tactics of the Bush administration. While the legal efforts to release the illegally-detained men at Guantanamo are amply chronicled, Varon tells the detailed, untold story of how organizers and activists successfully led the nation in advocating for our clients when the rule of law had largely failed us."

--Vince Warren, Center for Constitutional Rights

About the Author

Jeremy Varon is professor of history at The New School in New York City. He is the author of Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies and The New Life: Jewish Students of Postwar Germany.