Emerging in 1918 from the devastation of World War I, the modern pacifist movement expanded rapidly and soon became organized on a transnational basis. These essays present aspects of the movement's development to the end of the Second World War.

The fourteen essays in Part I look at the interwar years, which gave rise to an array of pacifist organizations, both religious and humanist, throughout Europe and North America. Twelve essays in Part II deal with the brutal challenge to pacifist ideals posed by the Second World War and include a look at the fate of those courageous Germans who refused to fight for Hitler. The struggles of Christian pacifism in Japan and the satyagraha (non-violent soul force) of Gandhi in India are the focus of the two closing studies (Part III). These twenty-eight essays by scholars from eleven countries present an impressive overview of this remarkable movement, at the same time drawing out many little-known areas of pacifist activity.