Mass Hate: The Global Rise of Genocide and Terror (Revised and Updated) - Softcover

Kressel, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813339510 ISBN 13: 9780813339511

Publisher: Westview Press, 2002

Synopsis

Mass Hate explores why the brutality of humankind erupted and flowed more expansively in the twentieth century than ever before. Psychologist Neil Kressel recommends specific steps to help stem this bloody global tide of slaughter, terror and genocide. In his investigation, Kressel focuses on the horrifying butchery in Rwanda, the terrifying tactics of rape and torture of women in Bosnia, the systematic murder of Jews and others during the Holocaust. He examines history, psychology, and political science for explanations of what propels a citizen to raise a machete against innocent neighbors, and, in a moving conclusion, suggests practical ways for humankind to eradicate the causes of mass hate. Now included in the preface is a discussion of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on New York and the Pentagon.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Mass Hate explores why the brutality of humankind has erupted and flowed more expansively in the twentieth century than ever before. More importantly, this monumental work offers specific recommendations on how to stem this bloody global tide of slaughter, terror, and genocide - so that the twenty-first century does not bring more of the same, or worse. Neil Kressel - a respected authority on the psychology of international affairs, genocide, and terrorism - meticulously investigates why in the past eight decades mass hatred has reached genocidal proportions throughout the world. In his investigation, he focuses on the horrifying butchery in Rwanda, the terrifying tactics of rape and torture of women in Bosnia, and the systematic murder of millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust. Genocide has occurred so often and blood has gushed so freely that one might consider the urge to kill one's neighbor an inborn characteristic of our species. Furthermore, the power to wreak bloody havoc on innocent civilians has become not only the sport of "soldiers", but of terrorists as well. In light of this, Kressel examines the motives for terrorist acts, specifically those of ultraextremist Muslims. Our only hope lies in understanding the human impulse to hate and the forces that transform that impulse into brutish action. In his quest for a thorough understanding of what ignites mass slaughter, Kressel probes beyond the facile, stock answers that traditionally explain such horrors. He plumbs the depths of history, psychology, and political science to derive his own theories of what propels an average citizen to raise a machete to groups of innocent women and children and slash them to death, or topull the lever to release pernicious gases upon defenseless people, and to do it again and again.

About the Author:

Neil J. Kressel, Ph.D., a social psychologist at William Paterson University of New Jersey, has taught at Harvard, New York University, and elsewhere. He is also the author of Mass Hate: The Global Rise of Genocide and Terror (Westview Press).

About this edition

• Publisher: Westview Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0813339510
• ISBN 13: 9780813339511
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312