Only fifteen women have won the Nobel Prize for Peace since it was first awarded in 1901. In this compelling book, Judith Stiehm narrates these women’s varied lives in fascinating detail. The second edition includes the stories of three additional outstanding women—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman—who were honored in 2011. Engaged and inspiring, all these women clearly demonstrate that there is something each of us can do to advance a just, positive peace. Whether they began by insisting on garbage collection or simply by planting a tree, each shared a common vision and commitment undiminished by obstacles and opposition. As Judith Stiehm convincingly shows, all are truly "champions for peace."

Peace is not just absence of war and hostility. Peace is presence of treaty and benevolence. Everyone is a champion by self to others. Ordinary people champ in extraordinary accomplishment under supreme authority. Assertive peace is from human knowledge and Godly wisdom. Absolute peace is a gift of God not a work of man. Eternal peace is through God given salvation by grace through faith. Natural Champions defeat rivalry with discipline and perseverance in carnal peace. Peace Champions in the world overcome adversity with sacrifice and determination under celestial peace. Peace Champions out of the world secure eternity with Godly promise and Heavenly blessing through glorious peace. Peace Champions upon God the Creator put on armor of God with fruit of the Holy Spirit. Peace Champions unto God the Savior resurrect life from death through justification and sanctification of divinity. God Champions of Peace conquer Satanic influence with holiness and sovereignty. God Champions of Peace take on suffering battle field into rejoicing mission field. Peace Champions of Eternity accomplish mortal tranquility and immortal serenity within structural worldliness and with architectural Godliness infinity and beyond. ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ John 14:27 NIV God is omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. To serve God and others in different ministries of church, school, homeless, prison, hospital, food distribution, and social gathering is to spread Good News of God gracious salvation and God gospel of saving peace. Over three thousands souls accepting God as Savior are recorded in my journal. I am honored to live out as an evangelist. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16 NIV

Despite sixteen years of civil war that left 150,000 dead, 425,000 injured, and nearly a million refugees within their own country, many Lebanese women successfully protected their national heritage and helped to restore order within their society. They formed schools and clinics, preserved historic ruins, and produced art that expressed the anguish and loss of their people. In this book, 42 Lebanese women from arts and literature, education, government, law, social work, the media, business and medicine discuss the effects of war on their careers and humanitarian efforts, their personal lives and families. Many of these women lost relatives and homes. In spite of such devastation, their stories confirm the power of endurance and also convey the significance of women's issues within Lebanon. These 42 poignant interviews with educated, successful women reveal their strength and the importance of culture and diversity within Lebanon.

War has been institutionalised. Giant military industries, formed from thousands of companies and employers, ensure that every old generation of war profiteers is replaced by a new one. Admirals, generals and senior defence officials demand that trillions of dollars are funnelled every year into the coffers of arms companies. People whose careers depend on the cycle of arms and warfare, insist that any break in funding is some kind of betrayal or national humiliation. Manipulated by vested interests, mainstream media justify increased military spending with spurious appeals to patriotism. In 2017, the world spent all time high $1.7 trillion on its uniformed fighters. That's equivalent to about a thousand dollars per family on the planet. Yet all these weapons have not made the world less violent. In 2015, violence cost the global economy some 14 trillion dollars, a surge of 15% from 2008. That number might seem high, until one considers the escalating inequality, famine, pollution, disease, collapse of public services, environmental damage and climate change that follows in the wake of war. Institutions endure. They can outlast the people that create them. The question asked by this book is, How can peace be institutionalised? The book finds that the institutions of war need to be matched by institutions of peace. For every department of defence, there needs to be a department of peace that allocates public resources to forestall violence and militarism, by measures of pre-emptive conflict resolution rather than waiting for it to occur and then deploying violence against it. Such departments of peace will be distinct from foreign and development ministries, compromised as they are by espionage, export-promotion and securitisation of aid. By opening peace / social centres / franchises, in each city, town and village, the Peace Department can contain violence and foster a culture of peace. Fundamental to all this is the pressing need for institutionalised Peace- a network of self-sustaining peace centres and social enterprises / companies, governmental peace departments and commentators that have peace as their core mission, in the same way that arms manufacturers and defence ministries institutionalise conflict. The book shows how the establishment of Departments of Peace and Peace Centres worldwide will result in saving of trillions of US dollars which governments can utilise in jobs creation, healthcare, education and peace building. Only by institutionalising peace at many levels of society, can the peace movement become powerful enough to face-down the many commercial and official networks that have a vested interest in armed violence. A better world has less violence and war. That is what this book aims to achieve. The time for action is now. There may not be a tomorrow to wait for.

In October 1947, two months after he became independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote the first of his fortnightly letters to the heads of the country’s provincial governments—a tradition he kept until a few months before his death. This carefully selected collection covers a range of themes and subjects, including citizenship, war and peace, law and order, governance and corruption, and India’s place in the world. The letters also cover momentous world events and the many crises the country faced during the first sixteen years after Independence. Visionary, wise and reflective, these letters are of great contemporary relevance for the guidance they provide for our current problems and predicaments.