A PUNISHMENT FOR PEACE

by Philip Berrigan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 1969

Philip Berrigan -- not to be confused with his brother, Daniel, the poet -- is a social radical in the best sense of that term. Consequently, he has frequently been in and out of hot water (and now is serving a sentence). This second book of his is in the nature of an apologia. It explains what he believes, and why he believes it. Those beliefs center mostly on Vietnam, social injustice, politics both national and international, and the ""cowardice"" of the Churches in the face of the great socio-moral issues of our time. He is against the war in Vietnam -- indeed, against any war; against the machinations of big government and big Church; against ""America's heritage of pathological racism""; and against the unreasoning posture of the Patriot. In the latter instance, for example, he argues, from history and ideology, that the Cold War is largely a phenomenon of American manufacture, and that the A-bomb was dropped on Japan not to force that nation's surrender so much as to intimidate the Soviet Union. He is an admirer of Marcuse, a defender of unpopular opinions, an unreconstructed prophet of doom: 1984 is now. Yet, somehow, he makes frighteningly good sense. The book will make quite a splash, at least among Berrigan's many admirers.

Pub Date: May 26, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION