Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology

by Nancy Scheper-Hughes (Editor), Philippe Bourgois (Editor), Mark Pedelty (Contributor)

From Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil" to Joseph Conrad's "fascination of the abomination," humankind has struggled to make sense of human-upon-human violence. Edited by two of anthropology's most passionate voices on this subject, >Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology is the only book of its kind available: a single volume exploration of social, literary, and philosophical theories of violence.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, History, Research, Philosophy, Social Science, War

512 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2003

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reading this book for my Anthropology and Human Rights class. It is pretty much the most important Anthropology book Ive ever studied. It is VERY readable, and features authors from many different backgrounds writing about various forms of violence. Primo Levi, Michel Foucault, Art Spiegelman, George Orwell, and a bunch of other anthropology types, talking about all the pervasive forms violence takes in our society.

Philippe Bourgois and Nancy Scheper-Hughes are two of my new-found heroes.

It is a textbook and is quite expensive, hense the four stars.
Ill borrow it to anyone after im done with my class.

n

[Grace O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I really need to say is that this anthology is essential for (s)he who is attempting to reconcile modern anthropology and political philosophy. It features some of my favourite scholars (Scheper-Hughes, Rosaldo, Orwell, Chomsky, Arendt) and is incredibly thought provoking. A definite must-read!

[Lucila Araujo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently reading this book for my thesis project to pursue an International Relations undergraduate degree.
I hadn't read any books or articles by Scheper-Hughes, in fact, I found the title cited in another book, Deseo de combate y muerte by Santiago Garaño, referring to state terrorism and its various forms of violence. When I read the summary, I knew right away that it would be useful to strengthen the state of the art of my degree thesis.
For now, it reads friendly and interesting, it also contains some criticism from Anthropology researchers about how the discipline works with the subject 'violence'. However, I'll come back to update my reading progress once I get to the third chapter.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading for anthropology of violence...a book that after reading you can't look at the world the same way. Broad content range in many articles and excerpts, but many on Latin America. Most of the articles are short for anthropology, which makes picking it up and putting it down easy to do.

[Isadora Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a GREAT anthology with an invaluable collection of essays and bibliographic resources.