Leonard C. Lewin

Leonard C. Lewin ( October 2, 1916 - January 28, 1999 ) was an American writer . Lewin is best known as the author of the satire Damned Peace .

Damned peace

The satire Verdammter Friede appeared in 1967 under the title: Report From Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace in a non-fiction book publisher. An introductory interview and brief introduction give the impression that the rest of the work is the report of a group of scientists working in secret. This “Special Study Group” met in an atomic bomb-proof bunker called “Irom Mountain” to investigate the negative consequences of a long peace and to develop alternatives.

However, one of the scientists, named " John Doe " in the satire , decided to make the final report available to the public. For this purpose he approached Leonard Lewin, who then established the necessary contacts to the “Dial Press” in the publishing house Simon & Schuster.

The report's conclusions are sobering that "peace is not in the interests of a stable society". War is too important for the economy to be allowed to "abolish" it. Moreover, governments, too, got their authority because of their ability to wage war and therefore had no interest in creating a state of lasting peace.

If a lasting peace is unavoidable, however, the government should initiate alternative programs: the welfare state , a space program or a gigantic arms control program .

In addition, the creation of "alternative enemies" is a possible solution; Alien threats, asteroid threats, or massive global pollution have been suggested. But also gladiator games or public processes like in the Spanish Inquisition are conceivable.

Effect of the report

When it came out, the report was believed to be genuine by many. This impression was reinforced by the fact that the US government was generally distrusted and specifically instructed its departments to present the "report" as a joke.

A right-wing group ( Liberty Lobby ) went so far as to reprint the report because a government report was not subject to copyright .

In 1972, five years after the book was published, Lewin confessed his authorship. A new edition published in 1996 contains a new introduction to details on the origin of the "joke".

Publications

• Report from Iron Mountain on the possibility and desirability of peace . With introductory material by Leonard C. Lewin. Dial Press, New York 1967, LCCN  67-027553 .
• Leonard C. Lewin (Ed.): Damned Peace . Scherz Verlag , Bern / Munich / Vienna 1968, DNB  457926694 (English: Report from Iron Mountain on the possibility and desirability of peace . New York 1967. Translated by Gert Woerner).
• Report from Iron Mountain. On the possibility and desirability of peace . With an introduction by Victor Navasky . The Free Press, New York 1996, ISBN 0-684-82390-X (American English).

Web links

• Literature by and about Leonard C. Lewin in the catalog of the German National Library