The Hound of Conscience: A History of the No-Conscription Fellowship, 1914-1919

Among the dozen or so antiwar groups in Britain during the First World War, the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF) was the sole organization to attempt to obstruct the war effort. Formed originally to oppose the adoption of a conscription bill, the NCF, after passage of the Military Service Act in 1916, shifted its efforts to providing advice, support, and organization for those who refused to serve in the army on grounds of conscience. Using materials from a wide range of private collections and official documents, Thomas C. Kennedy has produced the first full study of this group of highly principled dissenters and the anticonscription movement. [Review by Catherine Ann Cline]