Vengeance in Reverse: The Tangled Loops of Violence, Myth, and Madness (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture) - Softcover

Anspach, Mark R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611862388 ISBN 13: 9781611862386

Publisher: Michigan State University Press, 2017

Synopsis

How do humans stop fighting? Where do the gods of myth come from? What does it mean to go mad? Likening gift exchange to vengeance in reverse, Mark R. Anspach outlines a fresh approach to reciprocity and traces the emergence of transcendence in collective myths and individual delusions. From the peacemaking rituals of pre-state societies to the paradoxical structure of consciousness, Anspach takes the reader on an intellectual roller-coaster ride that begins with the problem of how to deceive violence and ends with the riddle of how one can deceive oneself.

About this title

About the Author

Mark R. Anspach is an anthropologist and social theorist whose writings have appeared in nine languages. He is affiliated with the LIAS research team at the Institut Marcel Mauss, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

From the Back Cover

"With Vengeance in Reverse, Mark Anspach establishes himself as one of today's most important figures in French social theory and cultural anthropology. Remarkably insightful, probing, and timely."
--Mark S. Cladis, Brooke Russell Astor Professor of the Humanities, Brown University

"A brilliant integration of great themes in anthropology... It will take its place among the works that have helped us understand both the bright and dark sides of human nature and culture."
--Melvin Konner, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology, Emory University, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit

Edition details

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1611862388
• ISBN 13: 9781611862386
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 136