The origins of violence : religion, history and genocide / John Docker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Docker, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Genocide--History.

Genocide.

Genocide--Religious aspects--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Pluto Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Genocide is commonly understood to be a terrible aberration in human behaviour, performed by evil, murderous regimes such as the Nazis and dictators like Suharto and Pinochet. John Docker argues that the roots of genocide go far deeper into human nature than most people realise.Genocide features widely in the Bible, the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, and debates about the Enlightenment. These texts are studied in depth to trace the origins of violence through time and across civilisations. Developing the groundbreaking work of Raphael Lemkin, who invented the term 'genocide', Docker guides us from the dawn of agricultural society, through classical civilisation to the present, showing that violence between groups has been integral to all periods of history.This revealing book will be of great interest to those wishing to understand the roots of genocide and why it persists in the modern age.

Contents:

Intro

CONTENTS

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 GENOCIDE AS ANCIENT PRACTICE: CHIMPANZEES, HUMANS, AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

2 GENOCIDE, AND QUESTIONING OF GENOCIDE, IN THE ANCIENT GREEK WORLD: HERODOTUS AND THUCYDIDES

3 GENOCIDE, TRAUMA AND WORLD UPSIDE DOWN IN ANCIENT GREEK TRAGEDY: AESCHYLUS AND EURIPIDES

4 UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA: PLATO AND CICERO'S REPUBLICS

5 VICTIMOLOGY AND GENOCIDE: THE BIBLE'S EXODUS, VIRGIL'S AENEID

6 ROMAN SETTLER IMPERIALISM IN BRITAIN: NARRATIVE AND COUNTER-NARRATIVE IN TACITUS'S AGRICOLA AND GERMANIA

7 THE HONOURABLE COLONIZER

8 WAS THE ENLIGHTENMENT THE ORIGIN OF THE HOLOCAUST?

10 CONCLUSION: CAN THERE BE AN END TO VIOLENCE?

NOTES

INDEX.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-248) and index.

ISBN:

9786611878726

9781849643221

1849643229

9781281878724

1281878723

9781435690721

1435690729

OCLC:

298460816