Champions for Peace

Only fifteen women have won the Nobel Prize for Peace since it was first awarded in 1901. Hailing from all over the world, some of these women have held graduate degrees, while others barely had access to education. Some began their work young, some late in life. In this compelling book, Judith Stiehm narrates these women’s varied lives in fascinating detail. The second edition includes the stories of three additional outstanding women—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman—who were honored in 2011 with the Nobel Peace Prize “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Engaged and inspiring, all these women clearly demonstrate that there is something each of us can do to advance a just, positive peace. Whether they began by insisting on garbage collection or simply by planting a tree, each understood that peace must be global in order to be sustained. All learned that peace is not always popular, but believed they must persevere. They shared a common vision and commitment undiminished by obstacles and opposition. As Judith Stiehm convincingly shows, all are truly "champions for peace."