Seventeen of the world’s most eminent thinkers including Nobel laureates, academics and scientists contributed their thoughts to a 2002-2006 lecture series commissioned by the United Nations secretary-general at the time, Kofi Annan. Their reflections are now compiled into a book, "The Brilliant Art of Peace", that draws its title from a declaration of optimism by the renowned writer Toni Morrison. 

Published this month by the U.S. Institute of Peace Press, the book was edited by Abiodun Williams, former senior vice president of USIP’s Center for Conflict Management, who has since become president of The Hague Institute for Global Justice in The Netherlands. He organized the lecture series in his position as Annan’s director of strategic planning.

Among the inspiring prose is the comment from Morrison in an essay entitled “The Humanities after 9/11”:

“I am convinced that the language that has the most force, that requires the most acumen, talent, grace, genius, and, yes, beauty, can never be, will never again be, found in paeans to the glory of war or erotic rallying cries to battle,” she writes. “The power of this alternative language does not arise from the tiresome, wasteful art of war, but, rather, from the demanding, brilliant art of peace.”

In another of the 11 essays, Jeffrey Sachs, a leading expert on development economics, teamed with fellow Columbia University professors Jagdish Bhagwati and Joseph Stiglitz for a lecture entitled “Globalization: Winners and Losers.” 

“The issue is not whether to globalize,” they write. “It is really how to shape it and how to make it work better and, for the developing countries, how to take advantage of it and to adapt to it.” 

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a professor at George Washington University and author of more than 20 books, begins his essay on “Islam and the West” by exploring the implications of the very title of the piece.

In a section on science and technology, scientists Daphne Preuss and Jennifer Thomson explore the development and future of genetically modified crops.

The volume also includes lectures on “Identity in the 21st Century” by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who was one of Annan’s economic advisers, and distinguished philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah.

In an era when time seems to have accelerated with the speed of information that comes at us in small, too often superficial, bites, "The Brilliant Art of Peace" invites us to reflect on some of the over-arching issues that mold our worldview in an age of global reach.

For more information about this and other USIP Press titles, check out USIP’s bookstore.