This book embraces two centuries of the history of non-violence, reconstructing the great historical crises that this movement has faced. In this book the historical reconstruction is intertwined with the philosophical and psychological analysis of the moral dilemmas that great historical crises inevitably imply.

Domenico Losurdo is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Urbino.

Introduction: From the Broken Promises of Perpetual Peace to Non-Violence
1. Christian Abolitionism and Pacifism in the USA
2. From Pacifist Abolitionism to Gandhi and Tolstoy
3. Gandhi and the Socialist Movement: Violence as Discrimination?
4. The Anti-Colonialist Movement, Lenin's Party, and Gandhi's Party
5. Non-Violence in the Face of Fascism and the Second World War
6. Martin Luther King as the "Black Gandhi" and Afro-American Radicalism
7. Gandhi's Global Reputation and the Construction of the Non-Violent Pantheon
8. From Gandhi to the Dalai Lama?
9. "Non-Violence," the "Color Revolutions," and the Great Game
10. A Realistic Non-Violence in a World Prey to Nuclear Catastrophe