Throughout most of the 20th century, from World War I until his death in 1993, America poet and pacifist William Stafford remained convinced that wars don't work. In his poetry and other writing, he showed that it is crucial to think independently when fanatics act and to speak for reconciliation when nations take sides. This inspiring volume collects the antiwar writings of this lifelong advocate for peace: journal excerpts, pacifist poems, interviews, and an account of his own near-hanging at the hands of American patriots. In thought-provoking passages sure to strike a chord today, he assesses U.S. political habits and suggests that there are always alternative approaches to aggression. This powerful book about nonviolence includes never-before-published excerpts from William Stafford's daily journal from 1951 to 1991.