On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Paperback – June 22, 2009
Author: Visit Amazon's Dave Grossman Page | Language: English | ISBN: 0316040932 | Format: PDF, EPUB
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society – June 22, 2009
Direct download links available On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Paperback – June 22, 2009 for everyone book with Mediafire Link Download Link
Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Paperback – June 22, 2009
Direct download links available On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Paperback – June 22, 2009 for everyone book with Mediafire Link Download Link
About the Author
A former army Ranger and paratrooper, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman taught psychology at West Point and was the professor of Military Science at Arkansas State University.
Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Paperback – June 22, 2009
- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Back Bay Books; Revised edition (June 22, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0316040932
- ISBN-13: 978-0316040938
- Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Law Enforcement
- #6 in Books > Law > Criminal Law > Law Enforcement
- #10 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Violence in Society
I've debated for several days after reading "On Killing" whether to post a review or not. I have tremendous respect for the author and his professional credentials but must disagree with his thesis and especially his use of two sources in particular. The author is a devotee of S.L.A. Marshall as were many until two works in the late 1980s cast serious doubts on Marshall's methodology and even his personal character. This blew open while I was a graduate student, specializing in military history and therefore became a topic of intense debate within my circle of fellow students and professors, especially my mentor, who was a British Commando in WWII. The second source I would debate is some of the information the author took from Paddy Griffith's works on the American Civil War.
The underlying thesis of "On Killing" is that mankind is instinctively hard wired Not To Kill. How I wish that was true, and yet our bloody record across recorded history and plenty of evidence even prior to recorded history shows the exact opposite. We are, by instinct "killer angels." Read "War Before Civilization" as but one counter argument. But directly to my concern about the author's sources. "SLAM" Marshall's reputation was built on alleged interviews, hundreds of them, immediately after combat during WWII in which he asserts that at least 75% of combat infantry never fired their weapons, thereby proving that soldiers, at least American soldiers abhor killing and try to avoid doing so even at the risk of their lives.
I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I hoped I would find in it a well-documented, well-thought-out treatment of the subject matter. To my surprise, I found instead a sensationalized polemic advocating the censorship of violent video games.
The author was unconvincing in his arguments. It is clear from his cherry-picking of statistics that he wants us to believe that we live in a society of ever-increasing violence. Unfortunately for Grossman, US Department of Justice statistics contradict this assertion. According to DOJ numbers easily found through a Google search, violent crime rates (including homicide)in America skyrocketed from about 1960 to the early 1990s, but have been falling steadily since then. Would anyone argue that the use of violent video games in the US is falling steadily as well? He also fails to mention that certain societies with arguably even more violent video games than the US have much lower rates of violent crime than we do, for example Japan.
The author seems to rely heavily on a few secondary sources, particularly John Keegan's Face of Battle and Richard Holmes' Acts of War. His few primary sources include articles from Soldier of Fortune magazine; he appears to take them at face value that they are true, accurate first-person accounts of combat experiences. He claims that he himself conducted several hundred interviews of combat veterans, but didn't seem to use their accounts as sources.
His personal bias in on display here, but he seems unaware of it. He lionizes the American soldier. I served as an American soldier for two decades before retiring in 2001. I came to view my fellow soldiers as ordinary fallen beings sometimes performing unpleasant tasks in unpleasant places.
No comments:
Post a Comment