'The Fourth Army' is Released

Scarsdale, NY

A new book, "The Fourth Army" by L. Craig Williams, details the horrors of World War II and uses history to explore today's obstacles of peace - obstacles that include vicarious violence.

"Peace is forever on our lips, but never in our hands," says Williams, who holds a Juris Doctor specializing in international law. "Our daily life is consumed with violence - shootings at a high school, perpetual war, the murder mysteries of the evening 'news' and television shows that take us into the autopsy room. We are overwhelmed with nastiness, and societal hunger for vicarious violence is growing."

"The Fourth Army" invites a new look at the events of World War II and its meaning for the future, asking the question of whether the humanity will survive for one more generation.

If people do survive, what kind of society will they have built?

Combining elements of psychology, morality, history, theology and faith, the book demands that modern society fully comprehends its lust for vicarious violence by shining a light on the role Europe's Jews played in resisting the Nazi onslaught. This can help chart a course for arresting the growing tidal wave of political and domestic conflict that threatens to swamp society.

Europe's Jews were, in fact, a fourth army that was crucial in defeating Nazi armies; Hitler's destruction of the Jews absorbed immense amounts of arms and effort while the Allies concentrated only on defeating the Nazis in battle, Williams says.

In today's Germany, conventional thought has it that the average citizen didn't know genocide was being perpetrated during WW II - that it was a fairly well-kept secret among 10,000 psychopathic Nazi Party members; but the systematic murder of 6 million people was a national effort on an industrial scale, Williams shows.

"Just imagine if the energy Germany put into WWII had been focused on something positive!" he says. "This book is a careful reflection inviting readers to start to roll back the insidious waves of manmade destructiveness, often beginning with vicarious violence, that accost us from every side. It asks you to 'plowshare' your life, to literally start beating your own swords into plowshares in every aspect of your life and social surroundings."

About L. Craig Williams

L. Craig Williams holds a bachelor's degree in European History and a Juris Doctor, specializing in international law. He has written extensively about human resources and individual leadership. Williams has been an International Fellow of Columbia University and has published articles on comparative law and was a director of the German-American Law Association for many years. He has lived in Germany, France and England and makes his home in New York.

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