The Beast Within: Why Men Are Violent

by Neil Boyd

Thoughtful, provocative and definitely controversial, The Beast Within is essential reading for anyone concerned about violence in our society. Clearly written, extensively researched and logically reasoned, this is a book that challenges as it informs.

Genres: Psychology

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Paul Magnussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Basically, if everyone has a vested interest in believing that they understand everything, or even that people are capable in principle of understanding it (either because believing this dampens their insecurities about the unpredictable world, or makes them feel more intelligent than others, or both) then you have an environment in which dopey, reductionist, simple-minded, pat, glib thinking can circulate, like wheelbarrows filled with inflated currency in the marketplaces of Jakarta.”

There are few areas where this observation* is more apposite than that of criminology. The author is a criminologist of considerable experience — but this is not, unfortunately, a sufficient guarantee that pronouncements about criminal psychology will not be twaddle. It was thus somewhat of a relief to find this book perfectly sensible.

Why, then, are men violent? By the end of this opus, there is still no definitive answer — but that, in fact, is a large part of its value: it disposes of the usual simplistic replies (“testosterone”, “the patriarchal society”, etc.) by adducing research that shows them to be untenable. Many possible factors are considered, and I found the discussion quite well informed and interesting.

So when you get to the end, you may not know what The Answer is; but you could have a much better idea of what it isn’t.

Well worth a look, in my opinion.

*from Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise, clear & easy-to-read examination of the biological & environmental factors that cause men to act out in violent ways & what society can do about it. Written by a Canadian professor of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

[Huguette Larochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting book.