Jonathan Schell

Jonathan Schell describe en este ensayo una vía para salir del baño de sangre del siglo XX. Sus detallados análisis de las revoluciones francesa y rusa, de la guerra en Vietnam o del desmoronamiento del poder sovietico ilustran como, con frecuencia, la dinamica de la historia no ha sido determinada por las acciones militares sino por las batallas para conquistar las mentes y los corazones de la gente. Este libro deja bien claro que existe (siempre ha existido) una alternativa a la guerra.

Throughout history civilization has been shaped by war. Now, after a century of unprecedented devastation, it seems humankind is preparing to embark on another cycle of violence. Are we condemned to be in a state of perpetual warfare? In this lucid, impassioned, provocative book Schell shows how the underlying dynamics of history have often been shaped not by military actions, but by battles for the hearts and minds of the people. His close re-examinations of the British, French and Russian revolutions, the collapse of Soviet power in eastern Europe in 1989, the war in Vietnam and other key moments in history illustrate how all these events can be understood in a new way when viewed through the prism of non-violence. Now that recent events in Iraq have borne out the force of Schell's arguments - that it is not always the military battles that matter most - this inspiring book shows that there is, and always has been, an alternative to war as a way of directing human society.

Throughout history civilisation has been shaped by war. Now, after a century of unprecedented devastation, it seems humankind is preparing to embark on another cycle of violence. Are we condemned to be in a state of perpetual warfare?Jonathan Schell has consistently been one of the most influential and eloquent voices in the debate about global warfare and the arms race. His bestseller, The Fate of the Earth, focussed on the case for nuclear disarmament and may have halped shape two decades of thinking about man?s relationship with agents of destruction. Now, as the international order is once more in a state of upheaval, Schell has written another provocative book that aims to point the way out of the bloodshed of the twentieth century.Schell strives to show how the underlying dynamics of history have often been shaped not by military actions, but by battles for the hearts and minds of the people. His close re-examinations of the British, French and Russian revolutions, the collapse of Soviet power in eastern Europe in 1989, the war in Vietnam and other key moments in history illustrate how all these events can be understood in a new way when viewed through the prism of non-violence. Schell?s aim is to show that there is, and always has been, an alternative to war as a way of directing human society.

Más de una década después de su finalización, la guerra de Vietnam se niega a descansar en la timba de la historia. Sus cómos y porqués exasperan a la comunidad académica, su legado molesta y divide a los politicos: ¿quien era el verdadero enemigo? ¿A quien se enfrentaba el poderoso ejercito norteamericano, a una simple guerrrilla o a un movimiento politico global y coordinado? ¿Cual era la naturaleza de la guerra? Todas estas preguntas convergen, al final, en una sola: ¿como se explica que el pais que se consideraba a si mismo el mas poderoso del planeta fuera incapaz de imponerse a las fuerzas agrupadas en un pais pequeño, pobre y atrasado como Vietnam?