Understanding Peace: A Comprehensive Introduction fills the need for an original, contemporary examination of peace that is challenging, informative, and empowering. This well-researched, fully documented, and highly accessible textbook moves beyond fixation on war to highlight the human capacity for nonviolent cooperation in everyday life and in conflict situations. After deconstructing numerous ideas about war and explaining its heavy costs to humans, animals, and the environment, discussion turns to evidence for the existence of peaceful societies. Further topics include the role of nonviolence in history, the nature of violence and aggression, and the theory and practice of nonviolence. The book offers two new moral arguments against war, and concludes by defining peace carefully from different angles and then describing conditions for creating a culture of peace. Understanding Peace brings a fresh philosophical perspective to discussions of peace, and also addresses down-to-earth issues about effecting constructive change in a complex world. The particular strength of Understanding Peace lies in its commitment to reflecting on and integrating material from many fields of knowledge. This approach will appeal to a diverse audience of students and scholars in peace studies, philosophy, and the social sciences, as well as to general-interest readers.

Internationally respected NVC trainers, Judi Morin, Raj Gill, and Lucy Leu have come together to codify more than twenty years of training experience in one hands-on Nonviolent Communication (NVC) facilitator guide. Whether you're a new facilitator, a seasoned trainer looking to incorporate a more experiential approach, or a team of trainers, the Nonviolent Communication Toolkit for Facilitators has a wealth of resources for you. By breaking Nonviolent Communication down into 18 key concepts, this toolkit provides succinct teaching tools that can be used on their own for shorter sessions, or combined for a long-term or multi-session training. Your NVC Toolkit purchase includes: • Hard Copy Exercise Manual—Includes exercises, activities, and facilitator scripts to guide you in sharing 18 key NVC concepts • Electronic Downloads—Access to 21 Learning Aids and 33 Handouts to create an interactive, hands-on learning environment • Instructional Video Clips — Access 20 short clips and one 30-minute video to help clarify some of the more complex activities

Jonathan Safran Foer meets Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason in a poignant, provocative memoir of survival, compassion, and awakening to the reality of our food system. Jenny Brown was just ten years old when she lost a leg to bone cancer. Throughout the ordeal, her constant companion was a cat named Boogie. Years later, she would make the connection between her feline friend and the farm animals she ate, acknowledging that most of America’s domesticated animals live on industrialized farms, and are viewed as mere production units. Raised in a conservative Southern Baptist family in Kentucky, Brown had been taught to avoid asking questions. But she found her calling and the courage to speak out. She left a flourishing career as a film and television producer after going undercover and exposing horrific animal abuse in Texas stockyards. Bringing to life this exhilarating transformation, The Lucky Ones introduces readers to Brown’s crowning achievement, the renowned Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary she established with her husband in 2004. With a cast of unforgettable survivors, including a fugitive slaughterhouse cow named Kayli; Albie, the three-legged goat; and Quincy, an Easter duckling found abandoned in New York City, The Lucky Ones reveals shocking statistics about the prevalence of animal abuse throughout America’s agribusinesses. Blending wry humor with unflinching honesty, Brown brings a compelling new voice to the healthy-living movement—and to the vulnerable, voiceless creatures among us.