ABSTRACT
A casual student of history might well be excused for drawing the conclusion that war is the most characteristic feature of human society. Indeed, until the present century, much of what most people thought of as history and much that was taught in the schools as history was the recounting of wars and rebellions, conquests and reigns, battles and bullets. Our human energy found its most powerful expression in the massive forces we mobilized in order to kill or overcome each other. It is not a promising history from which to extrapolate world peace.
