A history of force
Subtitle: exploring the worldwide movement against habits of coercion, bloodshed, and mayhem
By: James L. Payne.
Publisher: Lytton Pub. Co.
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Sandpoint, Idaho
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
Subjects: Violence -- History.; Nonviolence -- History.; War -- History.; Pacifism -- History.; Democracy -- History.; Economic development -- History.
Description: Reviews over two dozen coercion-based practices, including human sacrifice, genocide, war, terrorism, revolution, political murder, riots, homicide, imprisonment, capital punishment, torture, religious persecution, slavery, debt bondage, and taxation. Examples and data are drawn from all over the world, including ancient Rome, medieval Japan, early modern England, revolutionary Russia, and four centuries of American history. Payne concludes that the long-run tendency in societies is for the use of force to decline.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The history we can't stand; title: The history we can't believe; title: What history is up to; title: The first step away from force: overcoming human sacrifice; title: With the edge of the sword: the changing view of genocide; title: Conquer thy neighbor: new ideas about empire, war, and military forces; title: Beyond political murder; title: Whatever happened to revolution?; title: From hell to hot meals: the evolution of criminal punishment; title: Violence for show: Terrorism in the modern world; title: The warlord's religion: Islam and global terrorism; title: Violence in the streets; title: The decline of slavery and debt bondage; title: The changing face of taxation; title: Freedom of belief and expression; title: Government in the age of disrespect; title: Swimming in history's tide: Lessons for voluntarists.