"In Writing Peace, Melanie
Springer Mock makes a valuable and unique contribution to
the literature on conscientious objection in America. She
reveals the vivid drama of conscientious objection in the
lives of four men who were conscripted during World War I
into military cantonments and lived out their convictions
as pacifists among soldiers waiting to be sent overseas.
Their diaries published in this volume not only bring us
into contact with their hearts and minds but also reveal
their individual strategies for maintaining a sense of
self and belief in a confining and often abusive context.
Mock's thoughtful, informed commentary teaches us how to
read these diaries for their deeper cultural, historical,
and literary significance and skillfully places them in
the context of Great War literature and the history of
conscientious objection in America. This is a timely book
as once more our nation deploys rhetoric in preparation
for a ‘holy war’ and lacks clear provisons for
conscientious objectors in its draft registration
policies." "With almost cinematic drama and scope, Melanie Springer Mock explores in Writing Peace: The Unheard Voices of Great War Mennonite Objectors the struggles of young conscientious objectors to protect their honor—and yet retain their belief in country—during America’s first world war. From the beginning of their journey, these men of deep faith, conscripted to fight for their homeland, faced a hard decision—journey to France and the battle, or endure confinement in American military barracks for their refusal to bear arms. Mock brings us every colorful moment of this unique American story by establishing and presenting—for the first time—clear and reliable texts of each of four representative diarists whose personal nightmares she unflinchingly and sensitively recounts." "Using the most scrupulous and contemporary standards for textual editing, Mock edits the diaries and then details in an engaging and lively introduction the American cultural climate during the years of the Great War that led to the shunning of conscientious objectors. She identifies the particular problems the Mennonites faced and draws a series of conclusions that reveal the all-too-alarming reactions of the American public—then, and perhaps now—to a policy of non-violence." "The most impressive feature of Writing
Peace is its readability. Beautifully penned,
Melanie Springer Mock’s first book creates a
sensitive and intriguing story of a little known event in
American history. Free of jargon and trenchant
academic prose, Writing Peace captures the triumph
and tragedy of a people that represents a saga in
American history." Writing Peace provides new
documentation of the experiences of American Conscience
Objectors to World War I, those 4,000 heroes who were
among the founders of militant nonviolence in our
country. The diaries here of four Mennonite draftees
reveal the inner experience and character of men
little-known to the wider public, even though roughly
half of all WWI CO's were Mennonite. Melanie Springer
Mock's sensitive, restrained editing brings them to life,
proving that the writers were not
"bovine-faced" religious nuts, as they were
judged at the time. Her three introductory chapters
further integrate them into our literary, political, and
military history by showing the cultural kinships of CO's
and soldiers and the isolation of both from the civilian
world. She also shows how these wartime trials later
helped make the peace churches like the Mennonites more
politically engaged. Combatants, as she says, bear the
weapons of war but not the total cost. The nonviolent
resistors to the Great War paid too—but also had
profound historical effect." "The war to make the world safe
for democracy, contrary to its progressive goals, created
the conditions for more war. Tragically, the
"profiling" of German-speaking pacifists in
World War I may now be compared with what is happening to
Arabic-speaking Muslims in America, even as the nation
may also again be giving heightened emphasis to a view of
itself as ‘an instrument in the hand of God.’ Writing
Peace represents a relevant resource for
understanding the experience of outsiders in wartime in
the twenty-first century." Writing Peace orders:
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