Not in Our Name

Speaking out against your country's war while it is being fought takes a particular kind of nerve, and Jesse Stellato gathers the American speeches that did it best. Alongside the texts themselves he tells the stories of the people who stood up in good-faith disagreement with their government and fellow citizens, and he traces the origins and consequences of the wars they opposed. His speakers come from varied backgrounds and hold varied politics, and the account is deliberately neither pacifist nor partisan.

What lifts the collection beyond an anthology is its second purpose. Drawing on classical Greek and Roman rhetorical theory, Stellato asks what actually makes an antiwar speech great, and why some words carry when others fall flat. It is a clear-headed book for anyone drawn to American history, the craft of persuasion or the courage of dissent.