Each year an estimated twenty-six thousand people are killed or maimed by land mines - more than 100 million of them sown like the mythical dragon's teeth in over seventy countries. These weapons are designed to maim soldiers, but instead, most victims are civilians, especially the rural poor. Antipersonnel land mines represent an expensive legacy of twentieth-century warfare - one we have not yet eradicated: More than a million new mines are laid each year, far more than can be removed with today's technology. Philip C. Winslow draws on his years as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, the Balkans, and Africa to show us the human effects of this calamity. Winslow also writes about the Campaign to Ban Landmines and the ways in which the dragon's teeth might finally be pulled from the earth so that it can be restored to those who live on it.

"Published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations"--Verso t.p.

Author's Note: The Worst War in the World -- i. "No One Knows Where the Mines Are Buried" -- ii. Chisola -- iii. The Road to Canage -- iv. Mutilados -- v. "Mines Are Not My Problem" -- vi. Turner, Priestley, and Rice -- vii. Under Siege -- viii. Why Does It Take So Long? -- ix. A Museum of Crutches -- x. Luckiest Survivor in the World -- xi. "Not War, but Murder" -- xii. The Campaign to Ban Mines -- xiii. "All I Want to Do Is Drive a Truck" -- Map of Angola.