The killing compartments : the mentality of mass murder

Resource Information

The work The killing compartments : the mentality of mass murder represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The killing compartments : the mentality of mass murder

Title remainder

the mentality of mass murder

Statement of responsibility

Abram de Swaan

Creator

• Swaan, A. de

Subject

• Mass murder
• Mass murder -- Psychological aspects
• Mass murderers -- Psychology
• State-sponsored terrorism
• State-sponsored terrorism -- Psychological aspects

Language

eng

Summary

The twentieth century was among the bloodiest in the history of humanity. Untold millions were slaughtered. How people are enrolled in the service of evil is a question that continues to bedevil. In this trenchant book, Abram de Swaan offers a taxonomy of mass violence that focuses on the rank-and-file perpetrators, examining how murderous regimes recruit them and create what De Swaan calls the "killing compartments" that make possible the worst abominations without apparent moral misgiving, without a sense of personal responsibility, and, above all, without pity. De Swaan wonders where extreme violence comes from and where it goes<U+0127> �seemingly without a trace<U+0127> �when the wild and barbaric gore is over. And what about the perpetrators themselves? Are they merely and only the product of external circumstance? Or is there something in their makeup that disposes them to become mass murderers? Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, political science, history, and psychology, De Swaan sheds new light on an urgent and intractable pathology that continues to poison peoples all over the world.--

Assigning source

Provided by Publisher

Cataloging source

UKMGB

Dewey number

327.117

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction