International humanitarian icon and bestselling author General Roméo Dallaire guides readers on a crucial and inspiring journey from past wars through post-modern conflict toward a vision of lasting peace.

In The Peace, Roméo Dallaire shows us the past, present and future of war through the prism of his own life. Trained in classic warfare during the Cold War era of mutual deterrence, Dallaire in good faith commanded the UN’s peacekeeping mission for Rwanda in 1994, only to see the country abandoned and descend into the hell of genocide. The battered, tortured warrior who emerged from that catastrophe grew determined to help repair the new world disorder—to prevent genocide, abolish the use of child soldiers, and find ways to intervene in, even prevent, conflicts in defence of humanity. And so Dallaire helped advance the doctrines of Responsibility to Protect and the Will to Intervene only to witness those initiatives falter because of the same old power politics, national self-interest and general indifference that had allowed the genocide in Rwanda to unfold unchecked.

In his final act, Dallaire has become a warrior working towards a better future in which those old paradigms are rejected and replaced. In The Peace he calls out the elements that undermine true security because they reinforce the dangerous, self-interested belief that “balance” of power and truces are the best we can do. Too often we say we are “at peace” because the bombs are falling elsewhere and we, ourselves, are not under attack. Dallaire shows us a path, instead, to what he calls “the peace,” a state where, above all else, humanity values the ties that bind us and the planet together—and acts accordingly. This book is the cri de coeur of a warrior who has been to hell and back and hopes to help guide us to a better place.

Lieutenant-General Romeo Daillaire served thirty-five years with the Canadian Armed Forces and now sits in the Canadian Senate. His Governor General's Literary Award-winning book, Shake Hands With the Devil, exposed the failures of the international community to stop the Rwandan genocide. His second book They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children, exposed the increasing use of child soldiers, as he saw first hand in Rwanda. Dallaire has received numerous honours and awards, including Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002. His activities continue to include work on genocide prevention, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the Child Soldier Initiative, which seeks to develop a conceptual base for the elimination of the use of child soldiers.

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“Roméo Dallaire’s ceaseless search for new ways to promote peaceful change reveals his profound and inspiring humanity.” —The Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson

“Roméo Dallaire is a brave and principled man who, in The Peace, has continued to think with care and conviction about some of the most difficult subjects facing our age.” —Rory Stewart, academic, former politician and author, most recently of Politics on the Edge
“People need to read this book because it puts forward our common humanity, reminds us of what should be our north star—our values—and that we need a rule-based international order if we want to make non-indifference a reality. It is also a great reflection on leadership for current and future peacemakers.” —Ambassador Frederic Gateretse-Ngoga, senior adviser on international partnerships, the African Union Border Programme and Regional Security Mechanism

“Here is the wisdom of a true elder—one who has struggled to be free in the horror and beauty of what he has come to know in his hard-lived life. In his freedom, Dallaire has chosen ‘the good.’ Here is his guide. It is searing, honest and truly inspiring. Read, deliberate and choose.” —James Orbinski, MD, former international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, professor and director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University