Review by Choice Review
Kopel (Denver Univ.) is an adjunct professor of law and an opponent of gun control. Here he harshly criticizes pacifism and argues for the moral legitimacy of resorting to violence in acts of self-defense and in political revolt against tyranny. Taking as his context the "Judeo-Christian tradition," a problematic phrase in many circles of scholarship, Kopel presents defensive military action as divinely sanctioned. He does so first in his examination of the Hebrew Scriptures, Judaism, and events in the history of Israel; he then turns to Christianity to argue that Jesus and early followers justified and used violence despite frequent claims to the contrary. In his moral and religious defense of guns, he remarks, in a chapter titled "Diaspora to Holocaust to Israel," that "once formerly unarmed Jews [at Treblinka and Sobibor] got their hands on firearms, the extermination camps were on their way out of business." In the conclusion he argues that though nonviolence can sometimes be effective, "nonviolence by conscientious people begets violence by lone criminals and by criminal governments." Engaging and certainly controversial, this book lays out a tendentious argument and reading of history in its promotion of a gun culture. Its audience should be sophisticated, knowledgeable readers. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Lloyd Steffen, Lehigh University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
