World Development, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 317-319, 1988.

Pergamon Press plc. Printed in Great Britain.

Book Notes

GUY GRAN
Book Review Editor

REFERENCE: PEACE, POLITICS AND much in evidence. Yet the beginning explorer
TECHNOLOGY will be able to find a diversity of books and jour-
nals that open the way to the liberal and conser-
Darrow, Ken, and Saxenian, Mike (1986) vative debates on human rights. In both scale and
Appropriate Technology Sourcebook: A Guide to cross-cultural communication, this work is,
Pructicul Books for Village and Small Community in conclusion, a substantial improvement on its
Technology. Stanford, CA: Volunteers in Asia predecessors.
(800 pp., cloth/paper. $26.95/$17.95).
Josephson, Harold. Ed. (1985) Biographical
A new edition of a longtime standard, the AT
Dictionary of Modern Peace Leaders. Westport,
Sourcebook provides substantive annotations
and ordering information on some 1,150 books CT: Greenwood Press (1,133 pp., hardback,
and reports. The classics are well represented, $85).
the topical ordering is logical, and the indexes The definition of peace has always been a ter-
sufficient. The authors wonder why the success of rain of struggle. Here the concern is for antiwar
the AT movement on the ground has not activities rather than the reduction of insti-
attracted proportionate material support in the tutionalized structural aggression within and
larger culture. One blockage may well be the un- between societies. Peace is disconnected from
willingness of AT educators like these to give due development; among the 750 biographies there is
attention to politics, institutions and culture; this none for Johan Galtung. The strength of the
collection includes but a tiny, dated sample of a work is short assessments and bibliographies on
huge interdisciplinary alternative development relatively unknown people in many European
literature. Until practitioners and policy advo- and North American movements since 1800.
cates work from a more holistic framework and a Some Third World contributers found the de-
far better grasp of the prerequisites of sustainable finition of pacifism inappropos, but there are
social movements, partisans of AT, ecodevelop- some Third World figures as well. The limitation
ment, primary health care, etc. will remain on to people deceased prevents any coherent cover-
the political and financial margins. age of the antiwar movement of the Vietnam era.
In sum, for those who want to seek out material
Friedman, Julian, and Sherman, Marc, Eds. on pacifism, its leaders and institutions world-
(1985) Human Rights: An International und wide. this will be a very useful reference tool. For
Comprehensive Law Bibliography. Westport. those seeking to improve the connection of peace
CT: Greenwood Press (X68 pp., hardback, $85). and development, it will be less relevant.

A five year UNESCO/Syracuse University Laszlo, Ervin, and Jong Youl Yoo, Eds. (1986)
project has resulted in a major cross-cultural World Encyclopedia of Peuce, 4 vols. Oxford and
reference work involving more than 20 languages New York: Pergamon Press (1,892 pp., hard-
and 4.300 unannotated citations. The broad back, $375).
definition of human rights is ably conveyed by
36 topical chapters. Important issues and organ- One browses through this effort with growing
izations are covered in subsequent chapters. ambivalence. Many of the topical articles, the
Primary and secondary material is drawn from focus of volumes one and two, look very good.
both academic and organizational sources. Large The intellectual history of the literature, serving
reference and index sections complete the as preface, is impressive. There is substantial
work. This reviewer is left with little sense of breadth to the definition of peace; economics,
comprehensiveness or of a definable field; the politics, ideology, and culture all receive some
social construction of law is not, for example. coverage in different ways. Finally, many con-