Violence: A Very Short Introduction

· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Gary Paul Williams
Audiobook
4 hr 37 min
Unabridged
Eligible
Want a free 28 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline. 
Add

About this audiobook

Violence is part and parcel of human history and of human nature. It is one of our most distinctive traits, the one thing that all cultures and societies, across time, share in common. It has defined not only the ways in which individuals relate to each other, but also how collective entities and states have interacted with each other over the millennia. All societies are violent and all individuals have the capacity for violence. However, not all societies and not all individuals are equally violent, and nor does violence exist with the same intensity across cultures.



This Very Short Introduction examines the more visible, physical acts of violence—interpersonal, gendered, collective, religious, sexual, criminal, and political—in the modern world. It explores how violence in the pre-modern world was different from the modern world, and what is significant about those differences. It also discusses what violence is by examining understandings of the ideas, values, and cultural practices embedded in an act of violence, and considering acts of violence as the outcome of a process dependent on the cultural context in which they take place. Along the way Dwyer considers some core questions, asking whether violence is always 'bad', and if there are any limits to human violence? And, are we becoming more or less violent?
Violence is part and parcel of human history and of human nature. It is one of our most distinctive traits, the one thing that all cultures and societies, across time, share in common. It has defined not only the ways in which individuals relate to each other, but also how collective entities and...

About the author

Philip Dwyer is an author who wrote Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799-1815, whcih made the National Biography Award for biographical writing and memoir 2015 shortlist.
Philip Dwyer is an author who wrote Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799-1815, whcih made the National Biography Award for biographical writing and memoir 2015 shortlist.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.