For twenty-eight years Colman McCarthy was a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post. In 1982, when he was invited to teach a course on writing in a public school in Washington, D.C., he responded, "I'd rather teach peace." What began as an experiment became a full-time career.McCarthy went on to teach his course on peace in a range of schools from a suburban high school in Chevy Chase to a juvenile prison, as well as Georgetown Law Center. I'd Rather Teach Peace tells the story of what goes on in these classrooms as McCarthy not only introduces the theory and practice of creative peacemaking but constantly surprises and challenges his students, subverting expectations about what education and life are really about.