Talk:List of books with anti-war themes

Selection Criteria
Q. 1: What are anti-war themes? I assume that by "anti-war themes" we mean something like this:  a) dealing with the personal, social, economic and/or environmental costs of war, and/or b) exploring, explaining or celebrating alternatives to violent conflict resolution. I expect that we want the anti-war theme to be a prominent feature of the book, as opposed to a backdrop. Comments?

Q. 2: Quality? There are so many books in English with anti-war themes that I assume it would be impractical  to try list them all. In order to bring this list up to featured status, we will have to articulate a reasonable basis for selection. In adding books new to the list today, I have tried to select books that have been 1) critically acclaimed, 2) included on librarians' recommended-reading lists,  and/or 3) widely known/popular.   Going forward, my intention is to continue ferreting out the most prominent books according to these guidelines.  Comments? Skybluewater (talk) 20:44, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Problems
Given this somewhat vague criteria, "themes", we need to clarify what goes here. If fiction, the book must have an article, the article must indicate in the plot summary or critical response that it has an anti war message to it, or is embraced by an anti-war movement. If nonfiction, i guess the title tells it all, but i really think that making this a bibliographical resource requires publisher, pub date, isbn, not just title and author, esp. if the book or author dont have articles. I really dont think this list will stand, but i will try to improve it a bit.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 00:30, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 20:04, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

ENDER'S GAME, really??? Also, should John Christopher's TRIPODS trilogy be added?
1. As I recall, Ender's Game celebrated the war against another species, culminating in glorious victory. Correct me if I'm wrong!

2. But if the list includes Ender's Game, then surely it should include John Christopher's Tripods-trilogy which begins with The White Mountains, as there's some very strong stuff in it at the end about the need to prevent mankind, newly liberated from the threat of the alien "Masters", from dividing into factions and warring against each other. In fact I'd say that both the trilogy and Ender's Game are pro-interspecies-war and anti-intraspecies-war.

3. I'm adding the last of the Oz books which L. Frank Baum wrote (although others wrote more Oz books after he died), which is Glinda of Oz, in which Princess Ozma and Dorothy go on a mission to prevent a small regional war between two tribes (Flatheads and Skeezers) in an obscure corner of the land of Oz. (The people are not warlike but their autocratic leaders are.)

It's worth noting, just here on the TALK page, that Baum was not a pacifist. Several of his other books describe wars in favorable terms, usually as exciting adventures (for instance: Rinkitink in Oz, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, and Sky Island) or comedic episodes (Queen Zixi of Ix, The Marvelous Land of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz). Also, after Sitting Bull died, Baum advocated total extermination (genocide, in modern parlance) of the Indians (now known as Native Americans) in a published editorial. Glinda of Oz is special: every aspect of the war in Glinda of Oz is always described as disastrous for both sides and objectively regrettable; a principal theme of the book is the responsibility of benevolent great powers to prevent wars among lesser powers; and although the book ends happily, it's not because of the war, it's because of Glinda's successful intervention and clean-up afterwards, so I think I'm justified in classifying this particular book as anti-war. If you disagree, don't be shy. I'm quite a peaceful fellow my own self, so you need not worry. HandsomeMrToad (talk) 08:14, 6 May 2020 (UTC)