Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur - Hardcover

Kiernan, Ben

4.02

235 ratings by Goodreads

9780300100983: Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300100981 ISBN 13: 9780300100983

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2007

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For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide. This new book the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times is among his most important achievements.

Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century, says Kiernan. He urges that we heed the rich historical evidence with its telltale signs for predicting and preventing future genocides.

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About the Author:

Ben Kiernan is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, professor of international and area studies, and the founding director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University (www.yale.edu/gsp). His previous books include How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975 and The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979, published by Yale University Press.

Review:

"In exploring the global 'prehistory' of the horrific forms of societal violence usually associated with the twentieth century, Kiernan identifies key factors that have been consistently associated with genocidal episodes. His book makes an original contribution to our understanding of the phenomenon."—Michael Adas, Rutgers University

(Michael Adas)

“Ben Kiernan’s Blood and Soil is a major work explaining myths and metaphors that have underwritten genocide for six hundred years—earlier within the bowels of the western tradition; now commonplace practice far beyond that tradition. In seeing genocide as linked to issues of land as well as race, nation, and expansion, Kiernan has opened up social, political, and economic analysis to the struggle for land and the control of property. Such an approach is unique as it is provocative. It is inspired by the author’s profound reading of Cambodia and Southeast Asia. Blood and Soil provides an angle of vision rarely found in those who start (and stop) with a European base of scholarship. The book opens up new questions and formulations on the nature of state inspired murder. It merits a close reading of the dark side of terror, often commented upon, but rarely probed.”—Irving Louis Horowitz, Rutgers University

(Irving Louis Horowitz)

"Blood and Soil is a stunning achievement. The idea for the project was clearly a prompting of the heart, but the argument itself is a thing of pure intellect. It surveys thousands of years, visits every corner of the world, and stares with scarcely a blink at the worst horrors the world has ever known. As an act of scholarship, it simply stands alone.”—Kai Erikson, Yale University
(Kai Erikson)

“Ben Kiernan’s book is a major contribution to genocide studies — a first attempt to tell the history of genocidal events, from Sparta to DarfurBlood and Soil is a well-researched, detailed account of many instances of mass killings and the reasons for their occurrence. It will no doubt give rise to controversy, new research, and new insights.”—Yehuda Bauer, Yad Vashem (Yehuda Bauer)

"This grim account of history notes remarkable parallels in the patterns of mass slaughter, from Carthage to Darfur. With references to the genocides sanctioned by the Bible, it's ghastly reading. Yet you also can't help feeling a measure of progress over the centuries."—Nicholas D. Kristof, New-York Historical Society series "Books That Matter," New York Times Book Review (Nicholas D. Kristof New York Times Book Review 2007-10-14)

"Both because of [Kiernan's] academic credentials and the scope of the work Blood and Soil is a must-read book. . . . [it] should be read by anyone who wants to get a better handle to the historical scope of genocide."—J.D. Bowers, E-Wareness!, Genocide and Human Rights Institute (J.D. Bowers E-Wareness!, Genocide and Human Rights Institute 2008-05-02)

“. . . the first synthetic, single-authored global history to connect state power and formation to violence through the willful extermination and attempted extermination of peoples. Its reach is not only global, it is also temporal, as the book examines violence through time.”—Journal of Asian Studies

(Audra Simpson Journal of Asian Studies)

"Kiernan here offers a beautifully written study that is both global and historical. . . . Blood and Soil represents a major advancement in the comparative study of genocide that will demand the attention of all scholars of political violence."—The Review of Politics
(The Review of Politics)

"Genocide scholars and those with an interest in world history should be grateful for Kiernan's latest stimulating work."--Donald W. Beachler, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
(Donald W. Beachler Holocaust and Genocide Studies)

"Blood and Soil is more than another work of history--it is a tool for waging peace."--Air Force Research Institute
(Air Force Research Institute)

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