Peace: 50 Years of Protest

Barry Miles

Reader's Digest,  March 2008

Everyone recognizes it. Wherever it's seen -- from lapel pins to bumper stickers to banners -- this familiar circle with its upside-down V makes an immediate anti-war, pro-harmony statement. Peace: 50 Years of Protest highlights the fascinating and eventful history of this well-known symbol. This riveting retrospective features . . .

  • The story of its roots -- how British conscientious objector Gerald Holtom designed the symbol as a logo for the 1958 Easter protest march by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
  • Its arrival in North America -- how several Americans attended that very first anti-nuclear march in Britain and subsequently brought he new logo back to the United States as an anti-bomb, anti-war symbol
  • Pivotal photographic moments of historic protest -- when the peace symbol became a rallying cry for change, from Vietnam to Central America, from Selma to Budapest
  • The sign's prominent use in fashion use in fashion, pop art, film, and marketing
Using a combination of research and personal recall, author Barry Miles recounts the evolution of this symbol from the 1958-1960 Ban the Bomb mass marches right up to the present day.

hardcover | ISBN: 9780762108930 | Publication Date: March 2008