An Intimate History of Killing
Subtitle: Face-To-Face Killing in Twentieth-Century Warfare
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 509
ISBN-13: 9780465007370
First sentence: The characteristic act of men at war is not dying, it is killing.
Description: The characteristic act of men at war is not dying, but killing. Politicians and military historians may gloss over human slaughter, emphasizing the defense of national honor, but for men in active service, warfare means being —or becoming— efficient killers. In An Intimate History of Killing , historian Joanna Bourke asks: What are the social and psychological dynamics of becoming the best ”citizen soldiers?” What kind of men become the best killers? How do they readjust to civilian life? These questions are answered in this groundbreaking new work that won, while still in manuscript, the Fraenkel Prize for Contemporary History. Excerpting from letters, diaries, memoirs, and reports of British, American, and Australian veterans of three wars (World War I, World War II, and Vietnam), Bourke concludes that the structure of war encourages pleasure in killing and that perfectly ordinary, gentle human beings can, and often do, become enthusiastic killers without being brutalized.This graphic, unromanticized look at men at war is sure to revise many long-held beliefs about the nature of violence.
Notes: First published by Granta Books 1999.
Includes bibliographies (pp. 457-499), index, and illustrations.
Table of contents: title: List of Illustrations
pagenum: vii; title: Acknowledgements
pagenum: ix; title: LIst of Abbreviations
pagenum: xi; title: Introduction
pagenum: xiii; label: 1
title: The Pleasures of War
pagenum: 1; label: 2
title: The Warrior Myth
pagenum: 32; label: 3
title: Training Men to Kill
pagenum: 57; label: 4
title: Anatomy of a Hero
pagenum: 91; label: 5
title: Love and Hate
pagenum: 127; label: 6
title: War Crimes
pagenum: 159; label: 7
title: The Burden of Guilt
pagenum: 203; label: 8
title: Medics and the Military
pagenum: 230; label: 9
title: Priests and Padres
pagenum: 256; label: 10
title: Women Go to War
pagenum: 294; label: 11
title: Return to Civilian Life
pagenum: 335; title: Epilogue
pagenum: 358; title: Notes
pagenum: 365; title: Bibliography
pagenum: 457; title: Index
pagenum: 501