Certain societies can be referred to as peaceful because physical aggression only occurs at low levels or because the belief system has potent anti-violent aspects. This book highlights the existence of such societies combining theory and case studies of particular groups.

This collection of ethnographies discusses how non-violent values and conflict resolution strategies can help to create and maintain peace.

"Out of the thousands of books published about violence, war, and what to do about them, this one will stand out as an exemplar of what we should be doing at the start of a new millennium. Graham Kemp and Douglas Fry have done us all a great service by compiling vital information about how people organize peaceful, collective lives." -- Lester Kurtz, editor-in-chief of The Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict
"A wonderful book! Filled with detailed accounts of societies that manage conflict so that they rarely become violent, Keeping the Peace provides grounds for hoping that we too can invent ways to reduce the violence in our culture." -- Joseph de Rivera, co-editor of Believed in Imaginings: The Narrative Construction of Reality
"Well-suited for classroom use, this collection explores peace in a diverse range of human societies. It reveals the values and methods used to forge lives, not without conflict, but where conflict is addressed through non-violent means. The lesson of this book is to stop dreaming of peace, and join together in building a more peaceful world-it can be done." -- R. Brian Ferguson, editor of The State, Identity, and Violence: Political Disintegration in the Post-Cold War World