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Genocide: A Reader
Genocide is a phenomenon that continues to confound scholars, practitioners, and general readers. Notwithstanding the carnage of the twentieth century, our understanding of genocide remains partial. Disciplinary boundaries have inhibited integrative studies and popular, moralizing accounts have hindered comprehension by advancing simple truths in an area where none are to be had. A Reader lays the foundations for an improved understanding of genocide. With the help of 150 essential contributions, Jens Meierhenrich provides a unique introduction to the myriad dimensions of genocide and to the breadth and range of critical thinking that exists concerning it. This innovative anthology offers genre-defining as well as genre-bending selections from diverse disciplines - in law, the social sciences, and the humanities - as well as from other fields. A wide-ranging introductory chapter on the study and history of genocide accompanies the carefully curated and annotated collection. By revisiting the past of genocide studies and imagining its future, A Reader is an indispensable resource for novices and specialists alike.
508 pages, Paperback
First published February 3, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 15, 2022
TLDR: Read it!
Since this is a reader it's hard to give a star-rating, really. By "reader", I mean it is a compendium of extracts from various authors in the key texts of the field (of Genocide Studies). In this sense, it is more sensible to judge the book on the "data gathering" (e.g., of the choice of extracts) rather than the contents of the extracts themselves, plenty of which Meierhenrich disagrees with.
From this context, the reader is a huge success. It has a very large range of sources from more or less the whole field. Meierhenrich misses nothing too important, with the exception of two works that he couldn't get copyright for, which isn't his fault and is acknowledged in the introduction. The extracts, accurately representing depth and width of the field, is particularly good in that it doesn't just refer to the "canonical" cases. The Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, and so on. It also refers to less-studied cases and those which are often neglected in the literature despite there being a great deal to learn from them + many of these cases being unambiguously genocidal.
I think the selection of topics was all very good, and nothing's really missing in that respect. In his module at LSE he did add in a section for counting the casualties of genocide which I suppose is missing from the book, but I think it would be harsh to judge it over that.
It is hard to decide what makes a compendium 4* or 5* given, well, the author didn't write most of it, but I have gone 4* for a small admittedly small reasons:
A) I feel like the ordering of the extracts within sections was a bit random and could've been thematised. e.g., within the 'causes' section, there is a division between strategic/rationalist, structuralist, and psychological approaches to the field, and while there obviously is some overlap, you can still use this as a heuristic to categorise the contentions within this part of the field.
B) While I appreciate the book is already fairly long, I think some extracts were a bit too short to get the full gist of the idea. Nothing extreme, but just a bit.
But these are minor things and the book is still an exceptional compendium of research on Genocide Studies and gives an excellent overview of the field for new and experienced students alike.
To put it quickly: this is a MUST READ!
Since this is a reader it's hard to give a star-rating, really. By "reader", I mean it is a compendium of extracts from various authors in the key texts of the field (of Genocide Studies). In this sense, it is more sensible to judge the book on the "data gathering" (e.g., of the choice of extracts) rather than the contents of the extracts themselves, plenty of which Meierhenrich disagrees with.
From this context, the reader is a huge success. It has a very large range of sources from more or less the whole field. Meierhenrich misses nothing too important, with the exception of two works that he couldn't get copyright for, which isn't his fault and is acknowledged in the introduction. The extracts, accurately representing depth and width of the field, is particularly good in that it doesn't just refer to the "canonical" cases. The Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, and so on. It also refers to less-studied cases and those which are often neglected in the literature despite there being a great deal to learn from them + many of these cases being unambiguously genocidal.
I think the selection of topics was all very good, and nothing's really missing in that respect. In his module at LSE he did add in a section for counting the casualties of genocide which I suppose is missing from the book, but I think it would be harsh to judge it over that.
It is hard to decide what makes a compendium 4* or 5* given, well, the author didn't write most of it, but I have gone 4* for a small admittedly small reasons:
A) I feel like the ordering of the extracts within sections was a bit random and could've been thematised. e.g., within the 'causes' section, there is a division between strategic/rationalist, structuralist, and psychological approaches to the field, and while there obviously is some overlap, you can still use this as a heuristic to categorise the contentions within this part of the field.
B) While I appreciate the book is already fairly long, I think some extracts were a bit too short to get the full gist of the idea. Nothing extreme, but just a bit.
But these are minor things and the book is still an exceptional compendium of research on Genocide Studies and gives an excellent overview of the field for new and experienced students alike.
To put it quickly: this is a MUST READ!
February 26, 2020
I purchased this reader for a course on genocide and human rights, and I can say without hesitation that this is one of the most thorough compilations I have ever come across.
It is straightforward and perfectly organized. The sheer amount of care that went into the layouts, the abstracts for the excerpts, the bibliography, and the recommended resources is tremendously obvious. The inclusion of sources is nuanced and varied.
It is straightforward and perfectly organized. The sheer amount of care that went into the layouts, the abstracts for the excerpts, the bibliography, and the recommended resources is tremendously obvious. The inclusion of sources is nuanced and varied.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews