Are We Done Fighting? - by Matthew Legge (Paperback)

About the Book

Are We Done Fighting? provides research, practical activities, and inspirational stories of success for cultivating inner change and spreading peace at the community level and beyond. Essential for everyone working to build understanding as an antidote to the politics of hate and division.

Book Synopsis

Powerful tools for spreading peace in your community

Unfounded beliefs and hateful political and social divisions that can cascade into violence are threatening to pull the world apart. Responding to fear and aggression strategically and with compassion is vital if we are to push back against the politics of hate and live in greater safety and harmony.

But how to do it?

Are We Done Fighting? is brimming with the latest research, practical activities, and inspirational stories of success for cultivating inner change and spreading peace at the community level and beyond. Coverage includes:

• An explanation of the different styles of conflict
• Cognitive biases that help explain polarized and lose-lose positions
• Practical methods and activities for changing our own and others' minds
• When punishment works and doesn't, and how to encourage discipline in children without using violence
• The skill of self-compassion and ways to reduce prejudice in ourselves and others
• Incredible programs that are rebuilding trust between people after genocide.

Packed with inspiration and cutting-edge findings from fields including neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioural economics, Are We Done Fighting? is an essential toolkit for activists, community and peace groups, and students and instructors working to build dialogue, understanding, and peace as the antidote to the politics of hate and division.

From the Back Cover

Powerful tools for spreading peace in your community

... Exceptionally valuable and timely. -- Alex Neve, O.C., Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada

... A much-needed antidote to the risk of depression and despair. -- Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor, Peace Studies, Bradford University, UK

A fresh, studious, and very readable book on how to live peace in today's chaotic world. -- Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., former Senator and former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament

UNFOUNDED BELIEFS and hateful political and social divisions that can cascade into violence are threatening to pull the world apart. Responding to fear and aggression strategically and with compassion is vital if we are to push back against the politics of hate and live in greater safety and harmony.

But how to do it?

Are We Done Fighting? is brimming with the latest research, practical activities, and inspirational stories of success for cultivating inner change and spreading peace at the community level and beyond. Coverage includes:

• Cognitive biases that help explain polarized and lose-lose positions
• Practical methods and activities for changing our own and others' minds
• The skill of self-compassion and ways to reduce prejudice in ourselves and others
• Incredible programs that are rebuilding trust between people after genocide.

Packed with inspiration and cutting-edge findings from fields including neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioural economics, Are We Done Fighting? is an essential toolkit for activists, community and peace groups, and students and instructors working to build dialogue, understanding, and peace as the antidote to the politics of hate and division.

... A road map to transform our deepest conflicts. -- Paul R. Dekar, Emeritus Professor and co-founder, Peace Studies, McMaster University, Canada

We are not done fighting, but we can fight in a better way. This book tells you how. -- Johan Galtung, founder, Transcend International

MATTHEW LEGGE is the Peace Program Coordinator of the Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers). He has supported locally led peace building initiatives in 30 countries as a volunteer, consultant, board member, and staff member. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

About the Author

Matthew Legge has worked in the nonprofit sector for the last 13 years, with a focus on helping people thrive through the full enjoyment of health, dignity, and rights. Since 2012, he has worked with Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC), the peace and social justice agency of the Religious Society of Friends in Canada (Quakers). Quakers are widely respected for their efforts to prevent war and transform conflicts, as well as their impartial support for war victims. As CFSC's Peace Program Coordinator, Matthew has had the opportunity to learn from Quakers across Canada and in the US, Europe, and Africa. He holds a degree in Anthropology from the University of Toronto and served for six years on the board of directors of the Ontario Council for International Cooperation, where he helped develop anti-oppression strategies. Matthew lives in Toronto, Canada.