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The End of Violence: Eliminating the World’s Most Dangerous Epidemic
A leading epidemiologist and violence prevention expert “leads us down an entirely new path to a world beyond violence” (Nicholas Kristoff), with a bold new theory of how violence infects a society, and a hopeful vision for eradicating it with the same playbook used to combat contagious disease.
Violence is often described as a social issue, a moral failing, or an innate human instinct. But in fact, argues Dr. Gary Slutkin, violence is a contagion that infects a society like a disease.
This isn't a metaphor. In THE END OF VIOLENCE, Dr. Slutkin draws on the expertise gleaned from 40+ years on the frontlines fighting deadly epidemics to reveal that violence operates according to the same predictable logic as every other contagious disease, initially infecting a small number of carriers then spreading from host to host. When a shooting occurs in a neighborhood, it's not just a tragic event—it's patient zero in an outbreak.
Through compelling stories ranging from the streets of Chicago, to war-torn villages in the Ukraine and Syria, to mass shootings in suburban America, THE END OF VIOLENCE offers a hopeful alternative to the failed strategies of deterrence and a proven public health approach that interrupts transmission, changes behavior, and inoculates against future infection. Whether giving water to a child with diarrhea or providing a safe interruption to a domestic abuser, these methods focus on curing rather than punishing, and can be used to protect ourselves, heal our communities, and end the global epidemic of violence during our lifetime.
Violence is often described as a social issue, a moral failing, or an innate human instinct. But in fact, argues Dr. Gary Slutkin, violence is a contagion that infects a society like a disease.
This isn't a metaphor. In THE END OF VIOLENCE, Dr. Slutkin draws on the expertise gleaned from 40+ years on the frontlines fighting deadly epidemics to reveal that violence operates according to the same predictable logic as every other contagious disease, initially infecting a small number of carriers then spreading from host to host. When a shooting occurs in a neighborhood, it's not just a tragic event—it's patient zero in an outbreak.
Through compelling stories ranging from the streets of Chicago, to war-torn villages in the Ukraine and Syria, to mass shootings in suburban America, THE END OF VIOLENCE offers a hopeful alternative to the failed strategies of deterrence and a proven public health approach that interrupts transmission, changes behavior, and inoculates against future infection. Whether giving water to a child with diarrhea or providing a safe interruption to a domestic abuser, these methods focus on curing rather than punishing, and can be used to protect ourselves, heal our communities, and end the global epidemic of violence during our lifetime.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
Published April 21, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 21, 2026
The End of Violence by Dr. Gary Slutkin (Publisher: Little, Brown and Company) is one of those books that gives you a bold framework right up front and then asks you to follow it farther than you might be comfortable going. Slutkin’s core argument is that violence behaves like a contagious disease—it spreads through exposure, it clusters, and it can be interrupted if you treat it like a public health emergency instead of only a moral failure or a criminal issue.
Criminals should never be judged, Slutkin preaches. They should instead be treated with the upmost respect because they were mistreated as children.
The first part of the book worked best for me. Slutkin walks through his background and his work with the World Health Organization (that should explain a lot), and he explains the “you have to respond immediately” idea in a way that actually makes sense. The book makes a strong case that if you want violence to stop, you can’t wait weeks or months for systems to do their slow thing—you need intervention in the moment, when tensions are highest and retaliation is most likely.
I also understood the basic logic of paying trusted people in the community to intervene—the “violence interrupter” approach. I bought it… at least a little bit. Peer support and local credibility can matter more than official authority in certain situations, and Slutkin explains that piece well. But did you know that the actual violence interrupters in Chicago are paid like $20 an hour and the program costs 150 million dollars a year? What is that about?
Where the book lost me was the second half, when the theory scales up into bigger, global claims—especially around politics and peace-building. I wasn’t impressed by the suggestion that the same methods used to interrupt street violence can be applied at the level of peace talks with comparable effectiveness. (Ivanka Trump saved the world from her father. The leap felt too easy and the confidence felt bigger than the evidence presented (at least as it’s laid out here).
It’s one thing to describe how paying community members to step in can reduce immediate harm in a neighborhood. It’s another thing to imply that this model translates cleanly to high-level geopolitical conflicts—with the same basic mechanics and incentives. That’s where the book started to feel like it was overselling the idea.
I also really wished Slutkin had spent time on failures. If you’re arguing for a public health model and presenting it as the future, then the honest, useful part is showing where it didn’t work, what conditions made it break down, what was learned, and what limitations remain. That doesn’t weaken the thesis—it actually makes it more trustworthy. Without that balance, parts of the book felt like a success-story highlight reel.
So, overall: I appreciated the public health lens and I found the early, practical community work the most compelling. But once it moved into sweeping political claims, I became skeptical—and I wanted more humility and more discussion of what didn’t work.
And, teaching people to become interrupters in the opposition’s protest, yeah that may get you hurt.
The 22-year social worker in me really wanted a solution, not another money-trap.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.
Criminals should never be judged, Slutkin preaches. They should instead be treated with the upmost respect because they were mistreated as children.
The first part of the book worked best for me. Slutkin walks through his background and his work with the World Health Organization (that should explain a lot), and he explains the “you have to respond immediately” idea in a way that actually makes sense. The book makes a strong case that if you want violence to stop, you can’t wait weeks or months for systems to do their slow thing—you need intervention in the moment, when tensions are highest and retaliation is most likely.
I also understood the basic logic of paying trusted people in the community to intervene—the “violence interrupter” approach. I bought it… at least a little bit. Peer support and local credibility can matter more than official authority in certain situations, and Slutkin explains that piece well. But did you know that the actual violence interrupters in Chicago are paid like $20 an hour and the program costs 150 million dollars a year? What is that about?
Where the book lost me was the second half, when the theory scales up into bigger, global claims—especially around politics and peace-building. I wasn’t impressed by the suggestion that the same methods used to interrupt street violence can be applied at the level of peace talks with comparable effectiveness. (Ivanka Trump saved the world from her father. The leap felt too easy and the confidence felt bigger than the evidence presented (at least as it’s laid out here).
It’s one thing to describe how paying community members to step in can reduce immediate harm in a neighborhood. It’s another thing to imply that this model translates cleanly to high-level geopolitical conflicts—with the same basic mechanics and incentives. That’s where the book started to feel like it was overselling the idea.
I also really wished Slutkin had spent time on failures. If you’re arguing for a public health model and presenting it as the future, then the honest, useful part is showing where it didn’t work, what conditions made it break down, what was learned, and what limitations remain. That doesn’t weaken the thesis—it actually makes it more trustworthy. Without that balance, parts of the book felt like a success-story highlight reel.
So, overall: I appreciated the public health lens and I found the early, practical community work the most compelling. But once it moved into sweeping political claims, I became skeptical—and I wanted more humility and more discussion of what didn’t work.
And, teaching people to become interrupters in the opposition’s protest, yeah that may get you hurt.
The 22-year social worker in me really wanted a solution, not another money-trap.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.
Currently Reading
April 15, 2026If ever there was a book for the times we are living through, this is it.
Like the return of a global epidemic, governments around the world are spending more on war than on education, health and peace combined.
Enter the epidemiologist Dr Gary Slutkin.
His book, The End of Violence, is a reality-checked manual for applying the science of epidemiology to the challenge of breaking the cycles of violence that are devastating families, communities, nations and humanity itself.
This thoroughly-documented and illuminating book – like Dr Slutkin’s life-long work itself – is immensely practical. But it is more than that. It is a life-giving antedote to the pessimism and depression of everyone who has given up hope in humanity and its future.
Richard Reoch, former global media chief of Amnesty International
Like the return of a global epidemic, governments around the world are spending more on war than on education, health and peace combined.
Enter the epidemiologist Dr Gary Slutkin.
His book, The End of Violence, is a reality-checked manual for applying the science of epidemiology to the challenge of breaking the cycles of violence that are devastating families, communities, nations and humanity itself.
This thoroughly-documented and illuminating book – like Dr Slutkin’s life-long work itself – is immensely practical. But it is more than that. It is a life-giving antedote to the pessimism and depression of everyone who has given up hope in humanity and its future.
Richard Reoch, former global media chief of Amnesty International
April 22, 2026
The End of Violence by Gary Slutkin challenges one of society’s most entrenched assumptions by reframing violence not as a moral failure, but as a transmissible public health issue.
What makes this work compelling is its methodological clarity. Drawing from epidemiology, Slutkin presents violence as a pattern-driven phenomenon, predictable, interruptible, and, crucially, preventable. This shift moves the conversation from reaction to intervention, replacing punishment-based models with evidence-driven strategies.
At its core, the book is both diagnostic and prescriptive. It offers not just a new way to understand violence, but a viable framework for reducing it, positioning the work as a serious, actionable contribution to one of the most urgent global challenges.
What makes this work compelling is its methodological clarity. Drawing from epidemiology, Slutkin presents violence as a pattern-driven phenomenon, predictable, interruptible, and, crucially, preventable. This shift moves the conversation from reaction to intervention, replacing punishment-based models with evidence-driven strategies.
At its core, the book is both diagnostic and prescriptive. It offers not just a new way to understand violence, but a viable framework for reducing it, positioning the work as a serious, actionable contribution to one of the most urgent global challenges.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is a very timely book. It should be read by all politicians and policy makers regardless of the party they represent. We need to take Dr. Slutkin's advice and act now to settle disputes throughout the world!
May 6, 2026
important, ground-breaking work
Not only describes how violence in communities develops and can be contagious but describes so many cities where his proven playbook has worked so effectively by treating violence as a contagious disease whose spread can be interrupted.
Not only describes how violence in communities develops and can be contagious but describes so many cities where his proven playbook has worked so effectively by treating violence as a contagious disease whose spread can be interrupted.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews