Description

The Italian educator and physician Maria Montessori (1870-1952) is best known for the teaching method that bears her name. She was also a lifelong pacifist, although historians tend to consider her writings on this topic as secondary to her pedagogy. In The Best Weapon for Peace, Erica Moretti reframes Montessori s pacifism as the foundation for her educational activism, emphasizing her vision of the classroom as a gateway to reshaping society. Montessori education offers a child-centered learning environment that cultivates students development as peaceful, curious, and resilient adults opposed to war and invested in societal reform. Using newly discovered primary sources, Moretti examines Montessori s lifelong pacifist work, including her ultimately unsuccessful push for the creation of the White Cross, a humanitarian organization for war-affected children. Moretti shows that Montessori s educational theories and practices would come to define chilren s rights once adopted by influential international organizations, including the United Nations. She uncovers the significance of Montessori s evolving philosophy of peace and early childhood education within broader conversations about internationalism and humanitarianism.