The Peace Symbol gets a Birthday Card in Book Form

Utah State University faculty member and department head Michael S. Sweeney never stops writing or researching. One may look at the pages of his latest book, Peace: The Biography of a Symbol, and be flooded with thoughts of nostalgia.

This nostalgia comes from 175 brightly colored pages strewn with colorful images and stories. Some may spark a memory. Some you may have never before seen or heard. Then there are some you will never forget. The stories urge you to remember the brave students who were involved in Tinker V. Des Moines Independent School District, or the colorful peace rallies of the 1960s, just to name a few. The book also reveals the true identity of the symbol before it was adopted by the counter-culture after it was created.

 

Peace: The Biography of a Symbol is the eighth book Sweeney has written for National Geographic. Sweeney co-authored the book with Ken Kolsbun.

 

Peace: The Biography of a Symbol, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the peace symbol.

 

Who better than Sweeney to write this book? Sweeney was born in 1958, which is the same year the symbol was created.

 

“I was introduced to the peace symbol in 1965 when my family moved to College Park, Md.,” said Sweeney. “When I was in grade school and junior high, I lived very close to a lot of demonstrations. As I’ve grown up, I’ve seen the symbol grow as well.”

 

It was through the early years of Sweeney’s life that he saw the importance of the symbol. Folk musicians Peter Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan can all be associated with the peace movement. These being some of the most influential musicians of Sweeney’s early childhood, they remind him of important aspects of the peace movement.

 

“I looked at them as examples,” said Sweeney. “John Lennon was a voice among many voices. The main voice of the peace movement was the people themselves. They raised the symbol and everything bubbled from the ground up.”

 

Sweeney said the ‘60s saw the peace symbol virtually everywhere and in so many different contexts.

 

“The symbol was on posters, buttons, painted on walls, written in the sky by planes, it was everywhere,” said Sweeney. “You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing it or hearing about it.”

 

In recent decades, the peace symbol hasn’t been seen as much as during the ‘60s and ‘70s. Sweeney is confident that the peace symbol, as recently as 2003, has started to make its return.

 

“People have readopted and rediscovered it, using it in a variety of different ways,” said Sweeney. “It never really went away. It was just sleeping. It was waiting for a chance to be awakened. Think of it as an old idea whose time has come again.”

 

Peace: The Biography of a Symbol will send you on a magical ride around the life of the peace symbol through the authors’ writings.

 

“The ‘60s were an amazing time for the peace symbol,” said Sweeney about his favorite decade. “It was adopted by so many different groups and shown in so many different ways. Many of the pictures you see in the book are colorful and fun. You can see posters designed by Peter Max, buttons adorning the peace symbol along with page upon page of colorful ways the pictogram was demonstrated.“

 

Peace: The Biography of a Symbol, is 175 pages of thought-provoking images and stories. It can be purchased at all major book stores for the listed price of $25.

 

Contact: Mike Sweeney (435) 797-3213
Writer: Ben Hibshman, B.hibshman@aggiemail.usu.edu