ABOUT THIS BOOKMasculine codes of honor and dominance often are expressed in acts of violence, including war and terrorism. In Disarming Manhood: Roots of Ethical Resistance, David A.J. Richards examines the lives of five famous men—great leaders and crusaders—who actively resisted violence and presented their causes with more humane alternatives.Richards argues that Winston Churchill, William Lloyd Garrison, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Leo Tolstoy shared a psychology whose nonviolent roots were deeply influenced by a loving, maternalistic ethos deeply influenced by the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Drawing upon psychology, history, political theory, and literature, Richards threads a connection between these leaders and the maternal figures who profoundly shaped their responses to conflict. Their lives and work underscore how the outlook of maternal care givers and women enables some men to resist the violent responses characteristic of traditional manhood. The voice of nonviolent masculinity has empowered important democratic movements of ethical transformation, including civil disobedience in South Africa, India, and the United States. Disarming Manhood demonstrates that as Churchill, Garrison, Gandhi, King, and Tolstoy carried out their various missions they were galvanized by teachings whose ethical foundations rejected unjust violence and favored peaceful alternatives. Accessibly written and free of jargon, Disarming Manhood's exploration of human nature and maternal bonds will interest a wide audience as it furthers the understanding of human nature itself and contributes to the fields of developmental psychology and feminist scholarship.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYDavid A.J. Richards is Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University, where he teaches constitutional law, criminal law, and a seminar on gender and democracy. He is the author of eleven books.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments 000
Chapter 1: Ethical Voice and Resistance 000
Garrison and Antebellum Radical Abolitionism: Political Theory and Psychology 000
Political Theory 000
Psychology 000
Nonviolent Resistance 000
Hawthorne on Sexual Voice 000
The Psychology of Resistance 000
Men, Honor, and Obligatory Violence 000
Democratic Manhood 000
Why Jesus? 000
Why These Men?: Resistance and Blockages to Resistance 000
Chapter 2: Tolstoy on Nonviolence 000
Tolstoy's Early Life and Art 000
Tolstoy's Marriage and His Mature Novels 000
Tolstoy on Nonviolence 000
Tolstoy's Importance to Nonviolence 000
Chapter 3: Gandhi on Nonviolence 000
Gandhi's Early Life and the Turn to Nonviolence 000
The Invention of Satyagraha: South Africa 000
Satyagraha in India 000
Gandhi's Voice as Woman's Voice: Ethical Strengths and Perils 000
Chapter 4: King on Nonviolence 000
African-American Protest as a Tradition 000
King's Early Life 000
King's Graduate Education, Religion, and Marriage 000
Nonviolence in Montgomery 000
Nonviolence in Birmingham and the March on Washington 000
Nonviolence in Selma 000
The Scope and Limits of Nonviolent Voice in King 000
Chapter 5: Churchill's Resisting Voice 000
Churchill's Background and Early Life 000
Churchill's Resisting Voice 000
Churchill's Resisting Voice, Jennie's Sexual Voice 000
Chapter 6: Disarming Manhood 000
Notes 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000