In Search of Canadian Political Culture - UBC Press

Paradigm UBC PressPublishers
Dead for Good
Martyrdom and the Rise of
the Suicide Bomber
Hugh D. Barlow
Gandhi and Beyond
Nonviolence for an Age of Terrorism
David Cortright
Dead for Good vividly
describes how history
gave rise to the suicide
bombers of today. The
passionate submission
of ancient Jewish and
Christian martyrs was
largely supplanted by
militant self-sacrifice as
Islam spread and holy war
erupted in the Crusades.
In the Indian Punjab, the
Khalsa Sikhs made warrior-martyrdom an instinct
and policy in their defense of community and of
justice. In a last-ditch effort to defeat the Allies in
World War II, the Japanese transformed warriormartyrs
into martyr-warriors trained to sacrifice
themselves in attacks on enemy carriers. The
current suicide bomber is the latest phase: Whether
motivated by nationalism, religious ideology, or a
combination of both, the new “predatory” martyr
dies for the cause while killing indiscriminately.
Exploring martyrdom across cultures and throughout
history, this book gives us new insights into today’s
suicide bombers and answers to the common
question “Why do they do it?”
2006, 224 pages, 6 x 9”
1-59451-325-2 / 978-1-59451-325-1
paper $24.95 CRO
David Cortright presents
an overview of nonviolence
that is warm yet
critical, theoretical yet
practical, historical and
also transcontinental.
Scholars and practitioners
of peaceful struggle
will profit from it and also
enjoy it.
– Rajmohan Gandhi,
grandson of Mahatma
Gandhi, Visiting
Professor, University of Illinois
Is there room for nonviolence in an age of terrorism?
Long-time peace activist and authority on creative
nonviolence, David Cortright makes a strong case
for the need for nonviolent action now more than
ever. Drawing on the legend and lessons of Gandhi,
Cortright traces the history of nonviolent social
activism through the early twentieth century to the
civil rights movement, the Vietnam era, and up to
the present war in Iraq. Gandhi and Beyond offers
a critical evaluation and refinement of Gandhi’s
message, laying the foundation for a renewed and
deepened dedication to nonviolence as the universal
path to social progress and antidote to terrorism.
2006, 256 pages, 6 x 9”
1-59451-266-3 / 978-1-59451-266-7
paper $29.95 CRO
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www.ubcpress.ca / 1 877 864 8477