Why do people commit acts of violence against one another? Europe today is, for the most part, a peaceful society – but given the cruelties recently perpetrated in Rwanda, the Balkans, Syria, and Mexico, is the hypothesis of an increasingly less violent world really supportable? Violence is part of human existence – wherever human beings become caught in the rip tide of violence, they are unable to stop themselves: those who perpetrate acts of violence experience dynamics which urge them on to new deeds, deeds which they themselves might previously never have imagined. Is such violence really an aberration, an abnormality, or is it part of humans’ basic make-up, like sexuality or love?
Jörg Baberowski examines this question and shows vividly what violence can do to people, why violence is a part of people, and how violence arises. A formidable new work grappling with the nature of violence – and never letting go.
