Taking lives

About this book

"In what is widely recognized as a pivotal effort to study the social and political contexts of twentieth-century mass murder, Irving Louis Horowitz re-examines from an end-of-century perspective this central fact of life as a crucial aspect of the social science enterprise. In entirely new chapters, ('Counting Bodies'; Surviving the Genocidal State'; and 'Collectivizing Death'), the author expands key concepts introduced in earlier editions in a profound way. The new edition also contains a review of the most serious work done by others during the past decade, in so doing, placing the author's own efforts in a unique professional no less than analytical context. Taking Lives asserts that genocide is not a sporadic or random event, nor is it necessarily linked to economic development, national psychosis or social decay. Genocide is a special sort of mass destruction conducted with the approval of the state apparatus. Life and death issues are uniquely fundamental, since they alone serve as a precondition for the examination of all other issues. Such concerns move us beyond abstract, formalist frameworks into new ways of viewing the social study of the human condition. This has been recognized by nearly all reviewers of earlier editions. Taking Lives is a fundamental work for political scientists, sociologists, and all those concerned with the state's propensity toward evil"--Unedited summary from book cover.