Christian Science Monitor
January, 20 2000
Reviewed by Jane Lampman
'What if destructive conflict were preventable - and we simply did not'
The words above aren't the words of an ivory-tower academic or a naive optimist. They come from someone who's spent years at the heart of conflict - from family struggles to bitter labor strikes to such intractable wars as that in Chechnya. William Ury, an anthropologist-turned-negotiator, has distilled the lessons learned from two decades at the center of many storms, and 10 years of in-depth research, into a provocative and surprisingly heartening message about where the human race stands in "Getting to Peace" (Viking, 1999). His latest book follows two international bestsellers on negotiation: "Getting to Yes" and "Getting Past No." The new book is a challenge to the prevailing "myth of human nature," to the idea that violence and wars are inevitable, and to each of us who thinks we aren't in a position to do anything about it. He sets about to show us why we can do something - and how.
The Boston Herald,
October, 05 1999
Reviewed By Christopher Cox
"In an increasingly fractious world, who holds the key to peace?
According to William Ury, co-founder of Harvard University's Program on Negotiation, the secret to coexistence may be found in the way that 'primitive' tribes handle conflict. The author of the new book, "Getting to Peace" (Viking, $ 23.95), believes that the behavior of simple hunter-gatherer peoples such as the Bushmen, who roam Africa's Kalahari Desert, and the Semai, who inhabit the Malaysian rain forest, can help the rest of us deal with explosive situations at home, at work and abroad.
'We always see conflict as two-sided,' said Ury, 46, speaking at the program's Harvard Law School offices. 'It's husband vs. wife, labor vs. management, Arab vs. Israeli, Russian vs. Chechen.
'What (the Semai and the Bushmen) helped me recognize is that conflict is really three-sided,' he added. 'We focus on the two parties in conflict. But around them there's a third side: the friends, the neighbors, the surrounding community.'
Reprinted with permission of the Boston Herald.