Pacifism in the Twentieth Century, and: Varieties of Pacifism: A Survey from Antiquity to the Outset of the Twentieth Century, and: Challenge to Mars: Essays on Pacifism from 1918 to 1945 (review)

62Quaker History uncomfortablewith it, andmade littlementionofitinhis autobiography. He tried farming, but failed and was forced back into art to support his family. He didattempt to squarehis workwith Quakerprinciples, refusing commissions that he thought vain or worldly. Much ofWeakley's work is given to interpretations ofthe evolution ofHicks's paintings, especially the series of The Peaceable Kingdom that he began about 1816 and continued until his death. Like previous Hicks scholars, Weakley sees in the paintings a world that is anything but peaceful. The lions and leopards that dominate the landscapes were symbols ofpower and worldly activity, antithetical to the quietism of the true Friend. Weakley argues, for example, that Hicks doubtless associated the lion with the English Friends whose aggressive Evangelicalism played a central role in the Hicksite Separation of 1 8271828 . It is by no means derogatory to characterize Weakley's work as a coffee table book, given the profusion and attractiveness of its illustrations. It is intended for a general readership, and thus it is not surprising to find points at which a specialist in Quaker history will quibble. For example, it is questionable whether, as Weakley states, that by Hicks's lifetime English and American Friends "were not closely related" (37) or that in the 1820s the Orthodox were the Friends "supporting the original doctrines and practices ofthe Society" (46). One wonders also whether Weakley understands how badly Hicksite Friends were split over issues like abolition and women's rights in the 1840s, and how these difficulties, where Hicks steadfastly opposed Friends working with non-Friends, influenced the painter's work. These are minor points. The Kingdoms ofEdward Hicks is a welcome addition to the corpus of Edward Hicks and Quaker scholarship. Thomas D. HammEarlham College Pacifism in the Twentieth Century. By Peter Brock and Nigel Young. Syracuse: Syracuse UniversityPress, 1999. liv +436 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Paper, $29.95. Varieties of Pacifism: A Survey from Antiquity to the Outset of the Twentieth Century. ByPeterBrock. New ed. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1998. vi + 1 1 1 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. Paper, $15.95. Challenge to Mars: Essays on Pacifismfrom 1918 to 1945. Ed. By Peter Brock and Thomas P. Socknat. Toronto: University ofToronto Press, 1 999. xviii + 474 pp. Illustrations, table, notes, and index. $75. Book Reviews63 Peace history is a relatively rarified field with publications hard to find so doubly welcome whenthey appear, andparticularlywhenauthoredorcoauthored by as distinguished a historian as Peter Brock. However, of the three titles reviewed here, only the third deserves unqualified enthusiasm. Despite a cursory nod towards Buddhism and Hinduism in the opening chapters, the title of Varieties ofPacifism is deeply misleading. This book is essentially concerned with Christian pacifism and predominantly in Britain and America at that. Anyone coming to the subject fresh would be left with the notion that pacifism is a predominantly Christian tradition while the truth is that some Buddhists andJain Hindus have beenpracticing pacifism for far longer and with greater success than has Christianity. Other aspects of the book irritate. The chapter on very early Christian belief takes for granted that Jesus Christ was a historical personage who most definitely died in A.D. 29—no room is left for doubt. Medieval heresy was apparently confined to the ill-educated: a better phrase might refer to those who lacked the classical education of the church, as Brock himself admits that many heretical groupings produced literature and attracted artisans and traders. Brock fails to convince in his assertion that the early Friends did not develop the peace testimony (in contrast to non-compliant pacifism) as a reaction to the Restoration because he provides no other evidence for his opinion than his desire to see Friends first and foremost (he clearly hasn't read Larry Ingle on Fox, a less than pacific personality). This desire for Friends to retain the lead influences his chapter on the American Civil War. Brock obscures the fact that in the mid-West Friends had great difficulty securing the compliance of their young men. I finally became irritated beyond patience when, in the penultimate chapter, he asserted that the years following the Civil war were a protracted period ofpeace for the United...