Picasso’s dove has become a worldwide symbol of peace, yet the artist’s stance in the Spanish Civil War and membership of the French Communist Party ensured that the dove was regarded as pro-Soviet, according to writer John Gittings.
His book, The Glorious Art of Peace from the Iliad to Iraq (OUP, £18.99), lays out the arguments of great thinkers for peace throughout history.
Gittings, a former journalist on the Guardian newspaper who specialised in China, looks back to Confucius and Homer, to early Christian writers and Shakespeare; traces the growth of the peace movement and looks at the role played by Tolstoy and Gandhi. He believes we should now be focusing our energies on seeking peaceful solutions to the challenges of nuclear proliferation rather than being obsessed by the war on terror. He will be at Oxford Literary Festival on March 24. Box office 0870 343 1001.
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