The shadow of a man standing on the back of a three-wheel pickup truck and smashing with a club the head of another man without the police even pretending to chase the killers was to haunt Greeks for many years. With hindsight, it seemed uncannily like a foretaste of what awaited Greece when the Junta stepped in on April 1967, and put a brutal end to all its democratic illusions. Using written and oral evidence, this book weaves a narrative of the life and death of Grigorios Lambrakis: athletic champion, doctor, politician and Greece’s most committed defender of democracy and peace of the post-Civil War period. It surveys the destiny of a people at key historical junctures, probes their abiding political divisions, the obstacles in asserting peace in the shadow of Civil and Cold War, and traces the origins of the deep state and paramilitarism. It shows how, as the all-consuming fear of Communism intensified, these phenomena were able to entrench themselves, gain ever more autonomy, and eventually preside over the murder of a member of parliament. In addition, the book places under the microscope what Mikis Theodorakis once called ‘the Middle Ages of Karamanlis’, namely a regime whose baleful contradictions became fertile ground for total anomie: a situation devastatingly laid bare to the world by this murder and the investigation that followed.

The shadow of a man standing on the back of a three-wheel pickup truck and smashing with a club the head of another man without the police even pretending to chase the killers was to haunt Greeks for many years. With hindsight, it seemed uncannily like a foretaste of what awaited Greece when the Junta stepped in on April 1967, and put a brutal end to all its democratic illusions. Using written and oral evidence, this book weaves a narrative of the life and death of Grigorios Lambrakis: athletic champion, doctor, politician and Greece’s most committed defender of democracy and peace of the post-Civil War period. It surveys the destiny of a people at key historical junctures, probes their abiding political divisions, the obstacles in asserting peace in the shadow of Civil and Cold War, and traces the origins of the deep state and paramilitarism. It shows how, as the all-consuming fear of Communism intensified, these phenomena were able to entrench themselves, gain ever more autonomy, and eventually preside over the murder of a member of parliament. In addition, the book places under the microscope what Mikis Theodorakis once called ‘the Middle Ages of Karamanlis’, namely a regime whose baleful contradictions became fertile ground for total anomie: a situation devastatingly laid bare to the world by this murder and the investigation that followed.

This book is about decisions. Not the everyday kind such as "What should I wear today?" or "Where shall we eat tonight?" but decisions dealing with life, death, and protecting the innocent. The issue of self-defense concerns decisions of survival for the individual. It can also decide the fate of a nation and its citizens. Survival is the most basic of instincts. Without it, there is no family, community, culture, or state. Unless a person survives, he cannot pass down his genes, ideas, or beliefs. And religious beliefs can affect survival. If Christians are commanded to treat others as they want to be treated, would this not include protecting others from criminal attack? Jesus Christ may have had that in mind when he instructed his disciples to acquire a sword before entering the mission field, even if that meant trading their cloak for the weapon. A Time To Kill: The Myth of Christian Pacifism by Greg Hopkins includes chapters about preparation for self defense, laws that govern self defense, understanding how criminals think, recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), biblical appraisals of military and police, arguments on criminal punishment and retribution, and much more.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, this thought-provoking essay explores the Buddha's teaching to find one prescription: not war, not pacifism but nonviolence.

An all-singing, all-dancing celebration of ordinary life and death. Single mum Emma confronts the highs and lows of life with a cancer diagnosis; that of her son and of the real people she encounters in the daily hospital grind. Groundbreaking performance artist Bryony Kimmings creates fearless theatre to provoke social change, looking behind the poster campaigns and pink ribbons at the experience of serious illness.

Long a hub for literary bohemians, countercultural musicians, and readers interested in a good browse, Kepler’s Books and Magazines is one of the most influential independent bookstores in American history. When owner Roy Kepler opened the San Francisco Bay Area store in 1955, he led the way as a pioneer in the "paperback revolution." He popularized the once radical idea of selling affordable books in an intellectually bracing coffeehouse atmosphere. Paperback selling was not the only revolution Kepler supported, however. In Radical Chapters, Doyle sheds light on Kepler’s remarkable contributions to pacifism and social change. He highlights Kepler’s achievements in advocating radical pacifism during World War II, antinuclear activism during the Cold War era, and antiwar activism during the Vietnam War. During those decades, Kepler played an integral role, creating a community and a space to exchange ideas for such notable figures as Jerry Garcia, Joan Baez, and Stewart Brand. Doyle’s fascinating chronicle captures the man who inspired that community and offers a moving tribute to his legacy. In a new foreword for this revised edition, Doyle updates Kepler’s story and assesses how the bookstore and the community it serves have remained socially engaged and commercially viable amid the tumult of the twenty-first century.

Documents the disturbing history of four pacifists imprisoned for their refusal to serve during World War I. To Hutterites and members of other pacifist sects, serving the military in any way goes against the biblical commandment “thou shalt not kill” and Jesus’s admonition to turn the other cheek when confronted with violence. Pacifists in Chains tells the story of four young men—Joseph Hofer, Michael Hofer, David Hofer, and Jacob Wipf—who followed these beliefs and refused to perform military service in World War I. The men paid a steep price for their resistance, imprisoned in Alcatraz and Fort Leavenworth, where the two youngest died. The Hutterites buried the men as martyrs, citing mistreatment. Using archival material, letters from the four men and others imprisoned during the war, and interviews with their descendants, Duane C. S. Stoltzfus explores the tension between a country preparing to enter into a world war and a people whose history of martyrdom for their pacifist beliefs goes back to their sixteenth-century Reformation beginnings.