Takashi Yoshida provides a historical analysis of war and peace museums from the late nineteenth century to the present and traces the historical development of a pacifist discourse in postwar Japan that centered on Japan's war crimes and responsibility during the so-called Fifteen Year War, which began in 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria and ended in 1945 with the nation's defeat. Prior to the defeat, a culture of war gripped the Japanese empire. Every segment of Japanese popular culture during the war bore witness to the flood of patriotism. In this book Yoshida attempts to demonstrate that the acceptance of Japanese wartime aggression and atrocities as historical facts remains evident to this day in the culture of peace museums in Japan. Those who have little knowledge of contemporary Japan often hastily conclude that the Japanese have been united and monolithic in the way they feel the war should be remembered. This book seeks to challenge that assumption.

Sociologist Elise Boulding offers a collection of essays that emphasize her study of civil society during the second half of the 20th century. She revisits her theme of connection among family, community and government, offering perspectives and advice on how to fuel the process of peace.

Mediation and negotiation, personal transformation, non-violent struggle in the community and the world: these behaviors – and their underlying values – underpin the United Nations’ definition of a culture of peace, and are crucial to the creation of such a culture. The Handbook on Building Cultures of Peace addresses this complex and daunting task by presenting an accessible blueprint for this development. Its perspectives are international and interdisciplinary, involving the developing as well as the developed world, with illustrations of states and citizens using peace-based values to create progress on the individual, community, national, and global levels. The result is both realistic and visionary, a prescription for a secure future.

Roach provides an excellent account of the contributions of feminist peace researchers to the analysis of cultural militarism and its twin, cultural violence against women. Altogether, this book is a worthy enterprise that will help both activists and scholars gain a more in-depth understanding of the barriers to change errected by the media′s use of information technology, and will be useful in developing scenarios and strategies for the creative use of that technology for peaceful social transformation. --Elise Boulding in Media Development Does the media have a perverse fascination with war and violence? Do television, newspapers, and magazines neglect the forces of peace in favor of the more dramatic war machines, thereby amplifying the guns rather than muting them? If so, how does media coverage reflect the culture for which it works? By exploring the role of both culture and mass media, this volume fills a crucial void in the study of war and peace. Outstanding scholars provide a history and overview of critical mass media research and investigate emerging issues dealing with the ongoing debate over communication in war and peace. Several chapters deal specifically with the role of communication culture in the Gulf War, while others discuss more general themes, including the military/industrial/communication complex, cultural imperialism, and transnational control of communication. Many of the essays offer a uniquely feminist reading of war and peace, a perspective typically unacknowledged in mainstream communication work. This timely book also weaves peripheral concerns like multiculturalism, international communication law, women and peace, and communication technology into the primary themes of media and war. The research and practical information given here will be useful for courses in peace and conflict studies, international mass communication, and intercultural communication. Professionals in international relations, negotiations, and the media will find this book to be both fascinating and illuminating. "Original research on the coverage of disarmament stories and peace issues in Canadian dailies and Vincent Mosco′s excellent blueprint for converting the military machine to a peace system give Roach′s work practical and positive dimensions. Abstracts at the beginning of the chapters, full bibliographies, and a preface by the ′father′ of peace studies, Johan Galtung, add to the importance of this book. Recommended for anyone interested in the use/minuses of mass media to cover up/explain/promote governmental efforts to keep situations tense and warlike." --Choice "Communication and Culture in War and Peace provides a strategic road map for scholarly and citizen action. This is tightly edited, passionately--and convincingly--argued, and a broadly conceived book. It fills a large gap and is likely to be a widely used seminal resource and text for some time to come." --George Gerbner, Professor of Communication and Dean Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

A Cultural History of Peace presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. The set of six volumes covers over 2500 years of history, charting the evolving nature and role of peace throughout history. This volume, A Cultural History of Peace in the Modern Age, explores peace in the period from 1920 to the present. As with all the volumes in the illustrated Cultural History of Peace set, this volume presents essays on the meaning of peace, peace movements, maintaining peace, peace in relation to gender, religion and war and representations of peace. A Cultural History of Peace in the Modern Age is the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on peace in the twentieth and twentieth century.

A Cultural History of Peace presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. The set of six volumes covers over 2500 years of history, charting the evolving nature and role of peace throughout history. This volume, A Cultural History of Peace in the Age of Empire, explores peace in the period from 1800 to 1920. As with all the volumes in the illustrated Cultural History of Peace set, this volume presents essays on the meaning of peace, peace movements, maintaining peace, peace in relation to gender, religion and war and representations of peace. A Cultural History of Peace in the Age of Empire is the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on peace in the long 19th century.

(Re)Constructing Cultures of Violence and Peace brings together eleven original essays that were presented at the Third Global Conference on Cultures of Violence held in August 2002 in Prague. Covering an array of violence-related subjects, and a range of methodologies - textual, historical, theoretical, quantitative - the resulting volume is a multifaceted exploration of how cultures of violence are constructed, and how they can be deconstructed and replaced with cultures of peace. A common theme throughout the book is that violence is a fluid social and cultural construct - it is made by individuals, groups, and social forces. The implications of this are more than simply ontological: if violence is made, it can also be unmade; if cultures of violence are socially and politically constructed, they can also be de-constructed.

A Cultural History of Peace presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. The set of six volumes covers over 2500 years of history, charting the evolving nature and role of peace throughout history. This volume, A Cultural History of Peace in Antiquity, explores peace in the period from 500 BC to 800 AD. As with all the volumes in the illustrated Cultural History of Peace set, this volume presents essays on the meaning of peace, peace movements, maintaining peace, peace in relation to gender, religion and war and representations of peace. A Cultural History of Peace in Antiquity is the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on peace in the classical era.

Conflict, Cultural Heritage and Peace offers a series of conceptual and applied frameworks to help understand the role cultural heritage plays within conflict and the potential it has to contribute to positive peacebuilding and sustainable development in post-conflict societies. Designed as a resource guide, this general volume introduces the multiple roles cultural heritage plays through the conflict cycle from its onset, subsequent escalation and through to resolution and recovery. In its broadest sense, it questions what role cultural heritage plays within conflict, how cultural heritage is used in the construction and justification of conflict narratives, how are these narratives framed and often manipulated to support particular perspectives, and how we can develop better understandings of cultural heritage and work towards the better protection of cultural heritage resources during conflict. It moves beyond the protection paradigm and recognises that cultural heritage can contribute to building peace and reconciliation in post-conflict environments. The study offers a conceptual and operational framework to understand the roles cultural heritage plays within conflict cycles, how it can be targeted during war, and the potential cultural heritage has in positive peacebuilding across the conflict lifecycle. Conflict, Cultural Heritage, and Peace offers an invaluable introduction to cultural heritage at all stages in conflict scenarios which will benefit students, researchers and practitioners in the field of heritage, environment, peace and conflict studies.