BOOKMONGER
Figuring out how to wage peace on Earth
S
ome people cele-
brate the passing of
the old year and the
welcoming of the new by
drinking plenty of bub-
bly and blowing on party
horns. While I’m all in for
making a joyful racket on
New Year’s Eve, I’m also
a sucker for a little refl ec-
tion around these annual
transitions.
This time around, I’ve
been reading two books to
try to glean ideas about how
to contribute to civility in
our increasingly fractious
times.
“Surviving the Peace”
is a meaty report by human
rights activist and journal-
ist Peter Lippman, who has
been covering the postwar
recovery in Bosnia-Her-
zegovina over the last two
decades.
Early in the book, he talks
about what happened when
civility and integrity were
cheapened or ignored. “Polit-
ical polarization was accom-
panied by heightened rhetoric,
threats, and sporadic vio-
‘The Anatomy
‘Surviving the Peace’
of Organized
lence.” It strikes a disturbingly
Hate’
resonant chord.
Given the time that has
passed since the end of the
individual relationships and social con-
the factors that lead people toward extrem-
war, Lippman should have provided pres-
tracts amidst the rubble of a land torn up by ist views.
ent-day readers with a clear overview
war. This weighty book is a warning about
In the book’s second half, the author
of this very complicated confl ict before
nationalism gone amok.
reviews the systematic racism that has been
launching into his discussion of rebuilding.
Another Seattle author, Lonnie Lusardo,
part of this nation’s fabric from the begin-
But he offers only a cursory summary, and
focuses closer to home with his self-pub-
ning. He also explores the uncoordinated
this is further frustrated by the provision of
lished book, “The Anatomy of Organized
patchwork of policies, laws and enforcement
a sole, and entirely inadequate, map.
Hate.” This book looks at the modern-day
practices today that result in an ineffective
The Bosnian War began in 1992 and car- hate movement in the United States and
response to dangerous extremist agendas.
ried on until 1995. A toxic brew of ethnic
suggests ways to counteract that movement.
The most hopeful part of “The Anatomy
confl ict, nationalist aggressions, religious
Full disclosure — I know Lusardo and
of Organized Hate” is the testimony from
acrimony and self-serving alliances contrib- several years ago had read and commented
the former haters that it was when folks
uted to its fl are-up. Before it was over, 2.2
on a chapter or two in a preliminary draft of provided them with consistency and kind-
million people were displaced, thousands of this project.
ness that they fi nally were able to reject
women were subjected to sexual assault and
Since then, he has gone on to interview
their dedication to a life of hatred.
over 100,000 people were killed, with geno- half a dozen people who once identifi ed as
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd
cide documented at Srebrenica and proba-
neo-Nazis or white supremacists but who
McMichael, who writes this weekly column
bly also carried out elsewhere.
eventually defected from the hate move-
focusing on the books, authors and publish-
Lippman spends over 400 pages describ- ment. Comprising the fi rst half of the book, ers of the Pacifi c Northwest. Contact her at
ing the Herculean task of rebuilding
these harrowing accounts reveal some of
bkmonger@nwlink.com
This Week’s Books
“Surviving the Peace” By Peter Lippman
Vanderbilt University Press — 488 pp —
$27.95
“The Anatomy of Organized Hate” By
Lonnie Lusardo
335 pp — $16.95
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020 // 23