{"product_id":"on-violence-in-history-9781789204650","title":"On Violence in History","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eIs global violence on the decline? Scholars argue that Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker’s proposal that violence has declined dramatically over time is flawed.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \tThis highly-publicized argument that human violence across the world has been dramatically abating continues to influence discourse among academics and the general public alike. In this provocative volume, a cast of eminent historians interrogate Pinker’s thesis by exposing the realities of violence throughout human history. In doing so, they reveal the history of human violence to be richer, more thought-provoking, and considerably more complicated than Pinker claims.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eFrom the introduction:\u003cbr\u003e \tNot all of the scholars included in this volume agree on everything, but the overall verdict is that Pinker’s thesis, for all the stimulus it may have given to discussions around violence, is seriously, if not fatally, flawed.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe problems that come up time and again are the failure to genuinely engage with historical methodologies; the unquestioning use of dubious sources; the tendency to exaggerate the violence of the past in order to contrast it with the supposed peacefulness of the modern era; the creation of a number of straw men, which Pinker then goes on to debunk; and its extraordinarily Western-centric, not to say Whiggish, view of the world. Complex historical questions, as the essays in this volume clearly demonstrate, cannot be answered with any degree of certainty, and certainly not in a simplistic way. Our goal here is not to offer a final, definitive verdict on Pinker’s work; it is, rather, to initiate an ongoing process of assessment that in the future will incorporate as much of the history profession as possible.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003ePreface\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eMark S. Micale and Philip Dwyer\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eIntroduction:\u003c\/strong\u003e History, Violence, and Steven Pinker\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eMark S. Micale and Philip Dwyer\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 1.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Past as a Foreign Country Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Pinker’s “Prehistoric Anarchy”\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eLinda Fibiger\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 2.\u003c\/strong\u003e Were There Better Angels of a Classical Greek Nature? Violence in Classical Athens\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eMatthew Trundle\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 3.\u003c\/strong\u003e Getting Medieval on Steven Pinker Violence and Medieval England\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eSara M. Butler\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 4.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Complexity of History Russia and Steven Pinker’s Thesis\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eNancy Shields Kollmann\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 5.\u003c\/strong\u003e Whitewashing History Pinker’s (Mis)Representation of the Enlightenment and Violence\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003ePhilip Dwyer\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 6.\u003c\/strong\u003e Assessing Violence in the Modern World\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eRichard Bessel\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 7.\u003c\/strong\u003e The “Moral Effect” of Legalized Lawlessness Violence in Britain’s Twentieth-Century Empire\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eCaroline Elkins\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 8.\u003c\/strong\u003e Does \u003cem\u003eBetter Angels of Our Nature\u003c\/em\u003e Hold Up as History?\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eRandolph Roth\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 9.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Rise and Rise of Sexual Violence\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eJoanna Bourke\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 10.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Inner Demons of \u003cem\u003eThe Better Angels of Our Nature\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eDaniel Lord Smail\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \t\u003cstrong\u003eChapter 11.\u003c\/strong\u003e What Pinker Leaves Out\u003cbr\u003e \t\u003cem\u003eMark S. Micale \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Berghahn Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51138373779799,"sku":"9781789204650","price":21.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781789204650.jpg?v=1751919146","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/on-violence-in-history-9781789204650","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}