Nepstad’s Publication Receives Outstanding Book Award

Sharon Nepstad, director, Religious Studies and professor of sociology, published “Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement,” with Cambridge University Press in 2008. The book just won the Outstanding Book Award for the American Sociological Association section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict.

As the nuclear arms race exploded in the 1980s, a group of U.S. religious pacifists used radical nonviolence to intervene. Armed with hammers, they broke into military facilities to pound on missiles and pour blood on bombers, enacting the prophet Isaiah's vision: "Nations shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Calling themselves the Plowshares movement, these controversial activists received long prison sentences; nonetheless, their movement grew and expanded to Europe and Australia.

In this book, Nepstad documents the emergence and international diffusion of this form of high-risk collective action. Drawing on in-depth interviews, original survey research, and archival data, Nepstad explains why some Plowshares groups have persisted over time while others have struggled or collapsed. Comparing the U.S. movement with less successful Plowshares groups overseas, Nepstad reveals how decisions about leadership, organization, retention, and cultural adaptations influence movements' long-term trajectories.

“Starting in the United States, small groups of religious people attacked weapons of mass destruction with small hammers and their own blood. Sharon Nepstad tells the compelling story of how this movement spread around the world, adapting different forms depending upon the religious and political setting.

"She gives voice to these activists, but rather than simply turning then into heroes or cranks, she explains the roots of their sustained activism. She convincingly shows how a sort of religious faith, even the faith of atheists, allows people to continue their efforts despite significant shifts in political opportunity. This is a fascinating book, essential for anyone who wants to make sense of long term political commitment in hard times.”

-David S. Meyer, University of California at Irvine