All Peacemakers Needed Book Group
List of books about Peace and Peacemaking shared by YOU.
11/3/20266 min read
The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict
The Arbinger Institute
Focus: Conflict Resolution, Problem Solving, Introspection, non-fiction
“Through the powerful story of two fathers who each lost a son to the other's ethnic cousins, this book reveals how to transform your heart from war to peace, and in doing so, resolve even your most entrenched conflicts.”
How can we look inward to find solutions to our problems?
Monk and Robot
Becky Chambers
Focus: Cozy SciFi, apocalyptic, peaceful, responsibility to be productive, internal peace
“The robots of Panga have long ago achieved self-awareness and retreated into the forests, where they’ve become the stuff of legends and myth. However, when a robot checks in on a tea monk one day, honoring its ancient duty, it cannot leave until the monk answers the simple question.”
What is our purpose and what do we need?
Arthur C. Brooks
Focus: Anger motivates us to change, but contempt leads us to separate from and hate those who are different, nonfiction
“A toxic culture of contempt, rather than mere political disagreement, poses the greatest threat to American society. The book advocates moving beyond basic tolerance toward genuine commitment and relationship-building with ideological adversaries.”
How do we channel anger towards positive change and not contempt?
Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt
Sarah Beth Durst
Focus: Cozy fantasy soothes and resets the nervous system, themes of healing and overcoming the darkness, fiction
“Set in a magical world where only the elite are permitted to wield magic, The Spellshop is a heartwarming tale of social justice, found family, grief, and community. Durst delivers beautiful landscapes, colorful characters, and an emotional journey many will relate to.”
How can cozy fiction and imagination help us settle anxiety and find hope in dark times?
Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy Dialogues
Stephen T. Collis
Focus: Practical starting point, think about what you are hearing and seeing and your sources; what to do and not to do to promote peace, nonfiction
“Learn the practical skills that can help you build bridges, heal relationships, and engage in productive conversation about even the hardest topics. In this time of sharp political divides and overwhelming feedback”
How can I build consistent habits that create peace?
The Spell Shop
James L. Ferrell
Focus: Christ heals our homes and hearts. Parables include the story of Abigail, who would not cower and modeled Christ, parable/religious fiction
“Rick is ready to give up on his family. His perspective changes when his deceased grandfather begins visiting him in a series of vivid dreams and visions and guides Rick through time to witness key moments in scriptural history, using them as lessons to show him how to apply the Atonement directly to his marital conflicts.”
How can the scriptures and faith in Christ help us heal our homes?
The Peace Giver: How Christ Offers to Heal our Hearts and Homes
Rebecca Henderson
Focus: Making peace profitable, peace as a process, nonfiction
“Henderson argues that only a new form of capitalism can drive the innovation we need to build a just and sustainable world, and can play a leading role in solving the three great problems of our time: climate change, inequality, and threats to democracy.”
How can we create models that make peace profitable?
Living the Quaker Way
Phillip Gulley
Focus: Strong community connections and Quaker Essentials: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, nonfiction
“Philip Gulley invites us into a bracing encounter with the rich truths of Quakerism—a centuries-old spiritual tradition that provides not only a foundation of faith but also vision for making the world more just, loving, and peaceable by our presence.”
How can we bring SPICE to the world?
Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire
Phillip Hoose
Focus: Disrupters, Sometimes fighting back is good, non-fiction
“At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not.”
How can we stand up to injustice?
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
Lisa Manchev & TaeeunYoo
Focus: Children’s book, all are welcome, we are all a hodgepodge, everyone belongs in the club
“This picture book tells the story of a boy and his tiny pet elephant who face exclusion from a Pet Club, leading them to find an inclusive solution for all unusual animals.”
How can we be inclusive in an exclusive world?
The Missing Peace: The Search for Nonviolent Alternatives in United States History
James Juhnke & Carol Hunter
Focus: Reads like a narrative history of American culture with radical proposals and events that could have led us in a different direction, nonfiction
“A ground-breaking book, challenging the routine application of the myth of redemptive violence to the history of the United States. This work is a timely and eye-opening corrective that helps the reader see the history of the United States from an entirely new perspective.”
How can seeing a different perspective of history change our perspective?
Strictly No Elephants
Robyn Moreno
Focus: Healing, honoring your roots to help you find yourself when you are lost, nonfiction
“Reckoning with the hidden stories and aspects of her family and her Mexican-American culture that were transforming and heartbreaking brought Robyn to an unshakable understanding of who she is and how she fits into this world.”
How can honoring our roots help us heal and find peace?
Get Rooted: Reclaim Your Soul, Serenity, and Sisterhood Through the Healing Medicine of the Grandmother
Jeanette Winter
Focus: Children’s book; Iraq is under attack, so a librarian hides 30,000 books and waits for peace, nonfiction
“Simple forms and deep colors in a naïve style evoke the war without being explicit. The bravery and action of one person celebrates both everyday heroism and books as a unifying force.”
What can you do to work against destructiveness?
What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
Bruce Perry, MD, PhD & Oprah Winfrey
Focus: Conflict resolution, Vulnerable populations, making sense of personal trauma, introspective, nonfiction
“Our earliest experiences shape our lives far down the road, and What Happened to You? provides powerful scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns so many of us struggle to understand.”
How can exploring and facing trauma return your peace?
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
John Green
Focus: The book is a collection of deeply personal nonfiction essays that explore the human condition and review different facets of our human-centered planet on a five-star scale. Green reviews a wide mix of historical, scientific, and mundane subjects to chart how it feels to be alive in this strange geological age where human activity actively reshapes Earth.
“We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway...”
How can we find peace by looking outward instead of inward?
The Anthropocene Reviewed
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and co-writer Douglas Carlton Abrams
Focus: The book explores how to maintain inner peace and deep joy despite personal exile, political oppression, and global suffering. They conclude that true joy is an internal state of being rather than a fleeting response to positive external circumstances.
"Yet the ultimate source of peace, the ultimate source of happiness, is within ourselves."
How can we practically use internal inner peace and joy as tools for active peacemaking in our own families and communities?