E-grāmata: Battles of Conscience: British Pacifists and the Second World War

[ An] excellent book... [ Kelly] sheds light on a little considered aspect of the war -- Patrick Bishop * Daily Telegraph * A moving tribute to moral courage, and a scholarly memorial of more innocent times * Allan Mallinson, Spectator * [ Battles of Conscience] takes five pacifists...and skilfully weaves their stories into a broader narrative about how claims of conscience ruled the lives of the 60,000 British citizens who stood apart as conscientious objectors through [ WWII] * Times Literary Supplement * [ An] intriguing, original book... Kelly makes a fair case for...[ the] importance in thinking through the collective and individual duties of citizens in a national public emergency * Literary Review * An intriguing, original book . . . Kelly is sympathetic towards but clear-eyed about his cast of characters . . . [ and] their importance in thinking through the collective and individual duties of citizens in a national public emergency . . . questions which are hardly irrelevant in an age of pandemics, lockdowns and vaccine mandates -- Alan Allport * Literary Review * Tobias Kelly's scholarly examination of British pacifism neatly addresses the gap between past reality and current historical narrative. Much more has been written about the (far fewer) conscientious objectors who refused to fight in the First World War than those in the Second . . . This says a great deal about how we remember the 1939-45 conflict. Widely regarded as the right war to fight, there seems to be little space for pacifists in discussions of the war against the Axis . . . The timing of this book seems to be particularly prescient, arriving in the middle of another conflict - sparked by Russian's invasion of -- in which freedom and oppression are clearly delineated. What do pacifists do in such circumstances? And how should the state treat them? -- Tessa Dunlop * History Extra * Tobias Kelly's book takes five pacifists, four men and one woman, and skilfully weaves their stories into a broader narrative . . . A long and proud tradition of being permitted to act according to conscience is very much part of Britain's self-image . . . that there was space for pacifists to lay claim to the values of sacrifice and citizenship while not taking up weapons, ultimately played a not insignificant role in Britain's record of tolerance -- Mark Bostridge * Times Literary Supplement * This is a sympathetic and nuanced study that challenges the overly simplistic wartime narrative that pervades British culture * History Today *