On Killing
Subtitle: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
By: Dave Grossman.
Edition: 1st pbk. ed.
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 366
Subjects: Combat -- Psychological aspects; Psychology, Military; Homicide -- Psychological aspects; Violence -- Social aspects; Violence -- Psychological aspects
Notes: Originally published: 1995.

"Back Bay books."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [348]-352) and index.
Table of contents: title: Sec. 1. Killing and the existence of resistance : a world of virgins studying sex. Chap. 1. Fight or flights, posture or submit; title: Chap. 2. Nonfirers throughout history; title: Chap. 3. Why can't Johnny kill?; title: Chap. 4. The nature and source of resistance; title: Sec. 2. Killing and combat trauma : the role of killing in psychiatric casualties; title: Chap. 1. The nature of psychiatric casualties : the psychological price of war; title: Chap. 2. The reign of fear; title: Chap. 3. The weight of exhaustion; title: Chap. 4. The mud of guilt and horror; title: Chap. 5. The wind of hate; title: Chap. 6. The well of fortitude; title: Chap. 7. The burden of killing; title: Chap. 8. The blind men and the elephant; title: Sec. 3. Killing and physical distance : from a distance, you don't look anything like a friend. Chap. 1. Distance : a qualitative distinction in death; title: Chap. 2. Killing at maximum and long range : never a need for repentance or regret; title: Chap. 3. Killing at mid- and hand-grenade range : "you can never be sure it was you"; title: Chap. 4. Killing at close range : "I knew that it was up to me, personally, to kill him"; title: Chap. 5. Killing at edged-weapons range : an "intimate brutality"; title: Chap. 6. Killing at hand-to-hand combat range; title: Chap. 7. Killing at sexual range : "the primal aggression, the release, and orgasmic discharge"; title: Sec. 4. An anatomy of killing : all factors considered. Chap. 1. The demands of authority : Milgram and the military; title: Chap. 2. Group absolution : "the individual is not a killer, but the group is"; title: Chap. 3. Emotional distance : "to me they were less than animals"; title: Chap. 4. The nature of the victim : relevance and payoff; title: Chap. 5. Aggressive predisposition of the killer : avengers, conditioning, and the 2 percent who like it; title: Chap. 6. All factors considered : the mathematics of death; title: Sec. 5. Killing and atrocities : "no honor here, no virtue." Chap. 1. The full spectrum of atrocity; title: Chap. 2. The dark power of atrocity; title: Chap. 3. The entrapment of atrocity; title: Chap. 4. A case study in atrocity; title: Chap. 5. The greatest trap of all : to live with that which thou hath wrought; title: Sec. 6. Chap. 1. The killing response stages; title: Chap. 2. Applications of the model : murder-suicides, lost elections, and thoughts of insanity; title: Sec. 7. Chap. 1. Desensitization and conditioning in Vietnam : overcoming the resistance to killing; title: Chap. 2. What have we done to our soldiers? : the rationalization of killing and how it failed in Vietnam; title: Chap. 3. Post-traumatic stress disorder and the cost of killing in Vietnam; title: Chap. 4. The limits of human endurance and the lessons of Vietnam; title: Sec. 8. Killing in America : what are we doing to our children? Chap. 1. A virus of violence; title: Chap. 2. Desensitization and Pavlov's dog at the movies; title: Chap. 3. B.F. Skinner's rats and operant conditioning at the video arcade; title: Chap. 4. Social learning and role models in the media; title: Chap. 5. The resensitization of America.