Spokesman Books

Oktoberfest: 10,000 years of Beers, not Bombs "Creating a better world one beer at a time." In September of 2009 President Obama hosted the famous "Beer Summit" with Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates (left) and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley (center) at the White House. As Gates was returning from an out-of-town speaking engagement, he was arrested by Crowley on his own front porch for disorderly conduct. A very public national debate on race relations ensued, and President Obama brought peace to the warring parties over a glass of beer. Beers not Bombs works wonders!! Oktoberfest, a 200-year-old event first held by the Germans of Bavaria to celebrate a king’s wedding, now has gained international popularity. Hundreds of Oktoberfests to honor the “harvest” of new beer are held throughout the U.S. each autumn--the most massive gatherings occurring in Cincinnati, Denver, and La Crosse, Wisconsin. The global granddaddy of such sudsy fests o...

To all who are planning or will be attending a Remembrance Sunday event on November 11th Letter from Robert A. Hinde, former pilot, Coastal Command, RAF 1941-45 Dear friend, As Remembrance Sunday approaches, I feel more strongly than ever that the world is not as it should be. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Earth’s bounties are squandered and used to fill the pockets of the powerful. The so-called 'war to end wars' was followed by another world war and by many localised ones, often characterised by unspeakable cruelty. In World War II my brother died, slowly and painfully of wounds, exposure and dehydration in a ship’s lifeboat. My boyhood friend, an RAF navigator, is buried in Germany. Our War Memorials list those who 'gave their lives': it would be more honest to say they were killed. If wars continue, thousands more people will be killed or wounded. Families will be destroyed. Remembering is not enough. The best way to honour the dead is...

Henry Richard 1812 - 1888 By Hilary Evans, Abolish War , Spring 2012 " A bayonet has no aptitude for the discovery of truth; gunpowder has no quality of moral discrimination; a Krupp gun or a torpedo has no particular relation to righteousness. All that these can do, if you use them to the day of doom, is to decide, not who is right, but who is the strongest, the most skilful, the most wealthy, the most pertinacious ." Henry Richard ‘200 years ago saw the birth of one of our best campaigners for peace – something worth celebrating! Henry Richard was an important and effective figure in several spheres in the nineteenth century and many groups and organisations in London today have good reason to remember and honour his life and achievements. Born in Tregaron on 3 April 1812, he came to London in 1830 to train for the Congregational ministry and stayed for the rest of his life. It is difficult to do justice to such a multi-faceted man in a short summary. He was … The Apostle o...