|
Description
|
A landmark book about genocide from the prize-winning author who brought us the explosive Number 1 international bestsel...
A landmark book about genocide from the prize-winning author who brought us the explosive Number 1 international bestseller Hitler's Willing Executioners Daniel Jonah Goldhagen brings us now an original and important study of genocide that reconceives its very nature. He does so not by examining a series of genocides but by exploring the nature of mass killing itself. Our failure to clearly describe, explain, and understand the mechanisms of genocide has made it difficult to prevent, and this book will change that. Through exhaustive research, he brilliantly lays out the roots and motivations of mass slaughter, exploring such questions as: Why do genocides occur? What makes people willing to slaughter others? Based on his thoroughgoing reconceptualization of genocide, Goldhagen proposes novel, sensible, and effective measures to put an end to this scourge of humanity, which is worse, even, than war. Author:Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
Read more
Show less
|
We've all asked, "What is the world coming to?" But we seldom ask, "How bad was the world in the past?" In this startlin...
We've all asked, "What is the world coming to?" But we seldom ask, "How bad was the world in the past?" In this startling new book, the bestselling cognitive scientist Steven Pinker shows that the world of the past was much worse. In fact, we may be living in the most peaceable era yet. Evidence of a bloody history has always been around us: the genocides in the Old Testament and crucifixions in the New; the gory mutilations in Shakespeare and Grimm; the British monarchs who beheaded their relatives and the American founders who dueled with their rivals. Now the decline in these brutal practices can be quantified. Tribal warfare was nine times as deadly as war and genocide in the 20th century. The murder rate in medieval Europe was more than thirty times what it is today. Slavery, sadistic punishments, and frivolous executions were unexceptionable features of life for millennia, then were suddenly abolished. Wars between developed countries have vanished, and even in the developing world, wars kill a fraction of the numbers they did a few decades ago. Rape, hate crimes, deadly riots, child abuse - all substantially down.How could this have happened, if human nature has not changed? Pinker argues that the key to explaining the decline of violence is to understand the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away. Thanks to the spread of government, literacy, trade, and cosmopolitanism, we increasingly control our impulses, empathize with others, debunk toxic ideologies, and deploy our powers of reason to reduce the temptations of violence. Pinker will force you to rethink your deepest beliefs about progress, modernity, and human nature. This gripping book is sure to be among the most debated of the century so far. Author: Steven Pinker ISBN:9780141034645
Read more
Show less
|
A definitive account of World War II by America’s preeminent military historian World War II was the most lethal conflic...
A definitive account of World War II by America’s preeminent military historian World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya. The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war’s origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory. An authoritative new history of astonishing breadth, The Second World Wars offers a stunning reinterpretation of history’s deadliest conflict. Author:Victor David Hanson ISBN:9780465066988
Read more
Show less
|
A compulsively readable collection of all the nastiest things that have afflicted mankind Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods,...
A compulsively readable collection of all the nastiest things that have afflicted mankind Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, bird flu, international terrorism - the world seems to get more dangerous by the day. Or does it? John Withington's disturbing yet fascinating new book describes the worst things that have happened on Earth from the dawn of man to the present day. Part One chronicles all the major natural calamities - floods and earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and typhoons, plague and famine. Part Two describes in compelling detail the greatest man-made disasters - war and invasion, air raids, massacres, riots and terrorism, fires and explosions, shipwrecks, and air and train crashes. John Withington takes the reader on an epic journey through the annals of the nastiest things to have afflicted mankind. Out of all this horror, he has somehow fashioned a compulsively readble and entertaining book. Author: John Withington ISBN:9780749909789
Read more
Show less
|
