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On Killing

Dave Grossman

1995367 pagesabout 6–8 hours
1995
first published
  • 1995Little, Brown · 367 pages · ENGISBN 9780316330008
  • 1998Little Brown & Company · ENGISBN 9780316191449
  • 2009Little, Brown and Co. · 377 pages · ENGISBN 9780316040938
  • 2014Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · ENGISBN 9781497629196
  • 2014Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · ENGISBN 9781306593076
  • 2014Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · 416 pages · ENGISBN 9781497629219
  • 2014Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · 416 pages · ENGISBN 9781497629202
  • 1996Back Bay Books · 400 pages · ENGISBN 9780316330114

The good news is that most soldiers are loath to kill. But armies have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. And contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army's conditioning techniques, and, according to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's thesis, is responsible for our rising rate of murder among the young. Upon its initial publication, On Killing was hailed as a landmark study of the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects soldiers, and of the societal implications of escalating violence. Now, Grossman has updated this classic work to include information on 21st-century military conflicts, recent trends in crime, suicide bombings, school shootings, and more. - Publisher.

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