THE 16-WEEK "UNIVERSITY" COURSE

In addition to the eight-week "Class of Nonviolence," Colman McCarthy also has prepared readings for a 16-week "University" course. The "University" essays are not harder to read or understand than the 8-week class: it is just MORE, and divided into 16 sessions to conform with the typical college semester. (The 8-week class is also works very well as a high school or college course, as it leaves time for student projects and more discussion.) Twelve of the 48 essays in the 8-week class are omitted in the 16-week class. There are 41 additional essays, making a total of 77 readings. Those familiar with the 8-week class of Nonviolence will notice that 36 of the readings are the same: these are marked with a *.

PROGRESS REPORT: All of the essays are digitized and proofread. During the remainder of the month of August, 2009 we will be putting the essays on the Web; they are marked as UPDATED». In each class, the link in the heading will open a PDF file of all of the essays in that class and the link to the individual essay will take you to an on-screen version of that essay. You can download a PDF file containing all 77 essays here (320 pages, 1.27MB.) We are in the process of preparing the book for our printer so that you will be able to order it as a trade paperback.

Got all that? If you have questions, direct them to the San Antonio peaceCENTER at pcebooks@yahoo.com.

last updated: 21AUG09

UPDATED» Readings for First Class

  1. Nonviolence as a Way of Life, by Robert McGlasson
  2. *If We Listen Well, by Edward Guinan
  3. *Nonviolent Response to Assault by Gerald Vanderhaar
  4. *Human Nature Isn't Inherently Violent by Alfie Kohn
  5. *Axioms of Nonviolence By Lanzo del Vasto
  6. *Students Astutely Aware by Colman McCarthy

UPDATED» Readings for Second Class

  1. *Love is the Measure by Dorothy Day
  2. *Poverty and Precarity by Dorothy Day
  3. *Undeclared War to Declared War by Dorothy Day
  4. *This Money is Not Ours by Dorothy Day
  5. Reflections in Jail by Dorothy Day
  6. *Dorothy Day by Colman McCarthy

UPDATED» Readings for Third Class

  1. *Doctrine of the Sword by Mohandas Gandhi
  2. *Gandhi in the 'Postmodern' Age by Sanford Krolick and Betty Cannon
  3. *Family Satyagraha by Eknath Easwaren
  4. *Ahimsa by Eknath Easwaren
  5. *My Faith in Nonviolence by Mohandas Gandhi
  6. *A Pause From Violence by Colman McCarthy

UPDATED» Readings for Fourth Class

  1. *Feminism, Peace and Power by Mary Roodkowsky
  2. *Rape is all too Thinkable for Quite the Normal Sort of Man by Neal King and Martha McCaughey
  3. *Narrowing the Battlefield by Carol Ascher
  4. *Patriarchy: A State of War by Barbara Hope
  5. *An American Shero of 1941 by Colman McCarthy

UPDATED» Readings for Fifth Class

  1. *Martin Luther King, Jr. by Charles De Benedetti
  2. *Loving Your Enemies by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  3. *Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  4. *Pilgrimage to Nonviolence by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  5. *King and Pacifism: The Other Dimension by Colman McCarthy

UPDATED» Readings for Sixth Class

  1. *On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
  2. War Tax Resistance: One Story, by Andrea Ayvazian
  3. *The Judge and the Bomb by Miles Lord
  4. Economic Conversion, by Seymour Mellman
  5. Up Against The Arms Merchants, by Colman McCarthy
  6. War, Property and Peace, by Colman McCarthy

UPDATED» Readings for Seventh Class

  1. Ministering to the Condemned by Joseph Ingle
  2. The Pains of Life, by Joe Giarratano
  3. Another Attorney for Life, by Michael Mello
  4. The Inhuman Way of Death, by Willie Darden
  5. More than a Reasonable Doubt, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Eighth Class

  1. The Ethics of Nonviolent Eating, by Helen Nearing
  2. The Animal Rights Position, by Tom Regan
  3. *Animals, My Brethren by Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz
  4. *Interview on Respect for Animals, with Isaac Bashevis Singer
  5. *A Vegetarian Sourcebook by Keith Akers
  6. *'Terrorists' for Animal Rights by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Ninth Class

  1. The Art of Loving, by Erich Fromm
  2. Some Men are More Perfect Than Others, by Merle Shain
  3. How to Love Our Children, by James and Kathleen McGinnis
  4. Men, Women and the Art of Friendship, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Tenth Class

  1. *Letter to Ernesto Cardenal: Guns Don't Work by Daniel Berrigan
  2. Resist Not Evil, by Clarence Darrow
  3. Daniel Berrigan and a Pennsylvania Judge, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Eleventh Class

  1. The Town That Defied the Holocaust, by Grace Yoder
  2. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, by Philip Hallie
  3. Nonviolent Weapons of the Spirit, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Twelfth Class

  1. *Patriotism or Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  2. Letter to a Corporal, by Leo Tolstoy
  3. Advice to a Draftee, by Leo Tolstoy
  4. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
  5. Napoleon, by Leo Tolstoy
  6. Tolstoy and the Larger Vision, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Thirteenth Class

  1. Nonviolent Strategy and Commitment, by Robert Seeley
  2. *The Technique of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp
  3. Nonviolent Civil Defense, by Liane Ellison Norman
  4. Look to the Future, Learn from the Past, by Dudley Weeks
  5. Charles Grassley and the Pentagon Hogs, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Fourteenth Class

  1. *What Would You Do If? by Joan Baez
  2. A Question of Adhesion, by Joan Baez
  3. The Courage of Conviction, by Joan Baez
  4. Backstage with Joan Baez, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Fifteenth Class

  1. The Nonviolent Alternative, by Thomas Merton
  2. Message to Poets, by Thomas Merton
  3. Education and Success, by Thomas Merton
  4. Rediscovering Thomas Merton, by Colman McCarthy

Readings for Sixteenth Class

  1. Volunteers for Peace, by Gerald Rice
  2. Volunteers Forever, by Sargent Shriver
  3. Sargent Shriver, Enduring Peacemaker, by Colman McCarthy


The Class of Nonviolence was developed by Colman McCarthy of the Center for Teaching Peace, 4501 Van Ness Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20016 202/537-1372