Description
Book Synopsis Massacres and mass killings have always marked if not shaped the history of the world and as such are subjects of increasing interest among historians. The premise underlying this collection is that massacres were an integral, if not accepted part (until quite recently) of warfare, and that they were often fundamental to the colonizing process in the early modern and modern worlds. Making a deliberate distinction between ‘massacre’ and ‘genocide’, the editors call for an entirely separate and new subject under the rubric of ‘Massacre Studies’, dealing with mass killings that are not genocidal in intent. This volume offers a reflection on the nature of mass killings and extreme violence across regions and across centuries, and brings together a wide range of approaches and case studies.
Trade Review “Making a distinction between ‘massacre’ and ‘genocide,’ the editors strive to launch a new field of ‘massacre studies,’ focusing on mass killings that are not genocidal in intent. The book should be added to any library collecting in the field of mass violence studies.” · Choice
“Students of world history need to understand that history does not exist in a concrete and established form but rather continues to be shaped by—and to shape, in turn—present prejudices and policies. Theatres of Violence, by tackling a selection of emotionally charged and highly contested events, illustrates that dynamic at work throughout history, and so it proves an important contribution to both the study of violence specifically and to world history in general.” · Middle Ground Journal
“…an admirable and varied collection of 20 chapters on the phenomenon of massacre… The density of the volume is such that this review cannot do full justice to the quality of the contributions.” · European History Quarterly
"...{A] milestone on the path toward a more sophisticated analysis of a key feature of human cruelty…[This volume’s] goal is exploration and inspiration of further research in, and discussion of, the history of massacres…[It] does an excellent job in doing exactly this, and I am sure it will serve for a long time as a major reference book in the broader field of mass violence studies." · Thomas Kühne, Strassler Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Clark University
Table of Contents List of Tables, Illustrations, and Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Massacre and History
Philip Dwyer and Lyndall Ryan
PART I: MASSACRE AND ATROCITY IN THE ANCIENT AND PRE-MODERN ERAS
Chapter 1. The Origins of Massacres
John Docker
Chapter 2. Massacres in the Peloponnesian War
Brian Bosworth
Chapter 3. “The Abominable Quibble”: Alexander’s Massacre of Indian Mercenaries at Massaga
Elizabeth Baynham
Chapter 4. The Roman Concept of Massacre: Julius Caesar in Gaul
Jane Bellemore
Chapter 5. Atrocity and Massacre in the High and Late Middle-Ages
Laurence W. Marvin
Chapter 6. A Sea of Blood? Massacres during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, 1641–53
Inga Jones
PART II: THE COLONIAL FRONTIER
Chapter 7. Looking the Other Way: The Gnadenhutten Massacre and the Contextual Interpretation of Violence
Rob Harper
Chapter 8. Settler Massacres on the Australian Colonial Frontier, 1836-1851
Lyndall Ryan
Chapter 9. Tactics of Nineteenth Century Colonial Massacre: Tasmania, California and Beyond
Benjamin Madley
Chapter 10. A Blueprint for Massacre: The United States Army and the 1870 Blackfeet Massacre
Blanca Tovías de Plaisted
Chapter 11. When Massacre Appears: Representations of Australian Indigenous Massacres in Fiction
Katrina Schlunke
PART III: CONTESTED NARRATIVES: MEMORY, ATROCITY AND MASSACRE
Chapter 12. Memories of Massacres and Atrocities during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Philip Dwyer
Chapter 13. Stalin’s Trap: The Katyn Forest Massacre between Propaganda and Taboo
Claudia Weber
Chapter 14. The Great Secret: Sites of Mass Killings in Stalinist Russia
François-Xavier Nérard
Chapter 15. Spectacular Atrocities: Making Enemies during the 1965-1966 Massacres in Indonesia
Annie Pohlman
Chapter 16. A Necessary Salve: The ‘Hue Massacre’ in History and Memory
Scott Laderman
Chapter 17. A Battle for Perceptions: Revisiting the Cassinga Controversy in Southern Africa
Gary Baines
PART IV: THE DYNAMICS OF MODERN MASSACRE AND MASS KILLING
Chapter 18. Method in their Madness: Understanding the Dynamics of the Italian Massacre of Ethiopian Civilians, February-May 1937
Giuseppe Finaldi
Chapter 19. The Algerian War on French Soil : The Paris Massacre of 17 October 1961
Hélène Jaccomard
Chapter 20. Wedding Massacres and the War in Afghanistan
Stephen J. Rockel
Select Bibliography
Notes on the Contributors
Index
