The Best Weapon for Peace - Maria Montessori, Education, and Children's Rights is a recently published book by Erica Moretti that examines Montessori's lifelong pacifist work. 

Maria Montessori 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, emphasising her vision of the classroom as a gateway to reshaping society. Montessori education offers a child-centred 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 organisation for war-affected children. Moretti shows that Montessori's educational theories and practices would come to define children's rights once adopted by influential international organisations, 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.

You can also listen to Erica Moretti in our AMI Talks – Champion of the Rights of Children session recording here.