“What people are saying…”
“More than ever we need mediation, dialogue, and communication regarding our many racial and class conflicts. Every city, every state, and every nation needs non-violent mediators to intervene in the many crises that are inevitable in these complex times. In this book authors Bertram Levine and Grande Lum expertly provide the evidence for the difference CRS has made for communities throughout this country.”
—Andrew Young, former U.S. Congressman from Georgia, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Mayor of Atlanta
“This book, America’s Peacemakers, reflects on the first 50 years of this Service’s extraordinary history. It also looks toward to the next 50. We must reaffirm our determination to meet intolerance with understanding, to confront ignorance with informed dialogue, and to promote opportunity, access, and inclusion – in every community and circumstance.”
—Eric Holder, Former United States Department of Justice Attorney General
Review Excerpt
“One measure of a really good story is that it engages you even when you know how the story ends. America's Peacemakers has dozens of such stories, each one an account of CRS interventions in highly volatile situations from which most people would run away. In every one of these retellings, I could practically feel the tensions and see the emotions that fueled the conflicts, threatening violence and mayhem….”
“…This book is more than a collection of interesting stories about the creative application of a conflict resolution sensibility to seemingly intractable social ills. America's Peacemakers is also a critical reflection, voiced by two of its leaders, of the philosophy and practices of an agency whose vaguely defined purpose was ‘to provide assistance to communities and persons…in resolving disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices.’ Exactly how that was to be done was left to the agency to decide and invent. And they were indeed inventive as the book illustrates.”
— Howard Gadlin, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, January 28, 2021
“This is not only an important history of a major part of the American civil rights movement, it should be essential reading for anyone in the conflict resolution field.”
—Carrie Menkel-Meadow, UC Irvine School of Law, co-author of Dispute Resolution: Beyond the Adversarial Model
“Makes for fascinating reading, and teaches much about how to defuse and even mediate highly volatile, emotional encounters between long-standing cultural opponents.”
—Heidi Burgess, Co-Director, Beyond Intractability.org, co-author of Encyclopedia of Conflict Resolution and Conducting Track II Peacemaking
"America's Peacemakers is an insightful book about the intricate complexities of our history and the lessons of conflict transformation that we can apply to the challenges of the present and future in order to sustain our messy, imperfect, and courageous union. Through deepening our understanding of multiple perspectives and the process of negotiation, we can challenge divisive definitions of patriotism, more consistently build justice, and grow greater compassion in our beloved nation.”
—Maya Soetoro-Ng, Faculty Specialist, Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace & Conflict Resolution, University of Hawaii at Manoa
“(T)his book about the history of CRS is an essential historical reference to obtaining an accurate understanding of just how prescient President Johnson was in his requirement that CRS be a constituent part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the authors and to the staff, both past and present, of the Community Relations Service."
—Clarence Jones, Speechwriter and Lawyer to Martin Luther King Jr. (from the foreword)