Cat Chapin-Bishop at Quaker Pagan Reflections has reviewed American Quaker War Tax Resistance. Excerpts:
One of the wonderful things, for me, as a new convert to Quakers, is having 350 years of history to catch up on.
In American Quaker War Tax Resistance, David Gross has created, not so much a history of Quaker war tax resistance as a source book for those who seek help discerning their leadings in this area. Gross has brought together over a hundred historical documents, from Friends as weighty as John Woolman and Elias Hicks, to prominent critics of Quaker’s practices such as Benjamin Franklin, who found Friends guilty of “A Variety of Evasion[s]” to avoid entering into direct conflict between an outward show of support for the peace testimony and the military requirements of the state.
It is one of the strengths of this book that a full range of opinions and responses are represented.…
The introductory essay is particularly useful, at least to someone like me who is relatively unfamiliar with the details of how Friends, and how the United States, came gradually to understand the related ideas of civil disobedience, conscientious objection, and our peace testimony.…
…I find myself deeply respectful of the care and thoroughness Gross brought to the project. This book may not appeal to everyone, but for the conscientious objector, the modern tax resister, or the serious Quaker historian, this anthology is a wonderful resource.
