THE “GOOD” WAR THAT WASN’T—AND WHY IT MATTERS: WORLD WAR II’S MORAL LEGACY

This is a pdf of the entire book

These are rough drafts of the chapters of a book published in November 2014 with Cascade Books (here’s the book’s website):

1. Introduction

2. Jus Ad Bellum: The Reasons for War

3. Jus In Bello: The Conduct of the War

4. What the War Cost

5. Pax Americana

6. The Cold War

7. Full Spectrum Dominance

8. No to the War

9. Social Transformation

10. Servanthood

A series of posts drawn from the book’s conclusion:

“The disaster that was World War II: Could things have been different? (part one)” [posted May 29, 2013]

“The disaster that was World War II: Could things have been different? (part two)” [posted May 30, 2013]

“Reversing World War II’s moral legacy” (part one) [posted June 3, 2013]

“Reversing World War II’s moral legacy” (part two) [posted June 4, 2013]

Lecture:

“The Military Industrial Complex and the Moral Legacy of World War II”—Paper presented at the Military Industrial Complex at Fifty Conference at Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, January 14, 2011. [This is a slightly updated version of the 9/29/10 and 10/5/1o lectures taking into account the legacy of President Eisenhower’s “farewell address” in 1961.]

“The Moral Legacy of World War II”—Lecture given at Eastern Mennonite University, September 29, 2010, and at Goshen College, October 5, 2010.

Blog entries:

“Our fathers’ war” (December 26, 2010)

“How should a pacifist view World War II?” (January 21, 2011)

“World War II and America’s soul: Christian reflections” (February 20, 2011)

“What do we make of Dietrich Bonhoeffer” (February 27, 2011)

“Who can stand against it? The ‘good’ war and the Beast of Revelation” (May 13, 2011)

“Was World War II a just war?” (January 10, 2012)

“Someone else who has problems with World War II…” (April 20, 2012)

“Why World War II was a Moral Disaster for the United States” [Part 1] (May 27, 2012)

“Why World War II was a Moral Disaster for the United States” [Part II] (May 28, 2012)

Book Reviews:

Baker, Nicholson. Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization

Bess, Michael. Choices Under Fire: Moral Dimensions of World War II

Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

Buchanan, Patrick J. Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War

Herman, Arthur. Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age

Hitchcock, William I. The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe

Kovac, Jeffrey. Refusing War, Affirming Peace

Loconte, Joseph, ed. The End of Illusions: Religious Leaders Confront Hitler’s Gathering Storm

Miller, Lawrence McK. Witness to Humanity: A Biography of Clarence E. Pickett

Schlabach, Theron F. War, Peace, and Social Conscience: Guy F. Hershberger and Mennonite Ethics

Sheehan, James J. Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe