On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - Softcover

Grossman, Dave

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316330116 ISBN 13: 9780316330114

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 1996

Synopsis

The twentieth century, with its bloody world wars, revolutions, and genocides accounting for hundreds of millions dead, would seem to prove that human beings are incredibly vicious predators and that killing is as natural as eating. But Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, a psychologist and U.S. Army Ranger, demonstrates this is not the case. The good news, according to Grossman - drawing on dozens of interviews, first-person reports, and historic studies of combat, ranging from Frederick the Great's battles in the eighteenth century through Vietnam - is that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to kill. In World War II, for instance, only 15 to 25 percent of combat infantry were willing to fire their rifles. The provocative news is that modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have learned how to overcome this reluctance. In Korea about 50 percent of combat infantry were willing to shoot, and in Vietnam the figure rose to over 90 percent. The bad news is that by conditioning soldiers to overcome their instinctive loathing of killing, we have drastically increased post-combat stress - witness the devastated psychological state of our Vietnam vets as compared with those from earlier wars. And the truly terrible news is that contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army's conditioning techniques and - according to Grossman's controversial thesis - is responsible for our rising rates of murder and violence, particularly among the young. In the explosive last section of the book, he argues that high-body-count movies, television violence (both news and entertainment), and interactive point-and-shoot video games are dangerously similar to thetraining programs that dehumanize the enemy, desensitize soldiers to the psychological ramifications of killing, and make pulling the trigger an automatic response.

About this title

From the Author

The PAWNS know the TRUTH about the GAME, this is THEIR tale.
If you are a virgin preparing for your wedding night, or if you or your partner are having sexual difficulties, or if you are just curious ... then there are hundreds of scholarly books on the topic of sexuality available to you. But if you are a young (virgin) soldier or law enforcement officer anticipating your baptism of fire, or if you are a veteran (or the spouse of a veteran) who is troubled by killing experiences, or if you are just curious ... then, on this topic, there has been absolutely nothing available in the way of scholarly study or writing. Until now...

Review and comments on On Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman:

...well written on a subject that has never before, to my knowledge, been drafted for public consumption.
General W.C. Westmoreland

...illuminating account of how soldiers learn to kill and how they live with the experience of having killed...This book concludes with an impassioned plea for regulating media violence through social censure and pressure. This surely, is a sensible and welcome recommendation.
Washington Post

An excellent book.
Dr. Joyce Brothers, in her nationally syndicated column

An important book that should be read by anyone in the profession of arms and by anyone concerned about violence in our Nation.
Marine Corps Gazette

On Killing is destined to become a classic.
Army (Journal of the Association of the U.S Army)

A tremendous book.
Peace Magazine

...both disturbing and oddly reassuring ... a valuable contribution, full of arresting observations and insights of the sort that make you alter the way you have thought about certain subjects, most notably the nature of battle and the dramatic rise in the murder rate that has taken place in the United States in the last two decades...powerful...persuasive...incisive...Grossmans case is too carefully presented, too well grounded in actual observations, not to be taken seriously.
New York Times

...a provocative look at how and why we kill...One can only hope On Killing has not arrived too late.
Stars and Stripes

...truly revolutionary.
Dr. Eduardo D. Faingold, Argentine and Israeli combat veteran,Assistant Professor of Spanish, Dept. of Languages, University of Tulsa

I want to congratulate you on your book. It is important both as research and as an argument for acknowledging the violence in our society and its roots.
George Levenson, Ph.D., Director of Informed Democracy

Colonel Grossman¹s perceptive study ends with a profoundly troubling observation. The desensitizing techniques used to train soldiers are now found in mass media -- films, television, video arcades -- and are conditioning our children. His figures on youthful homicides strongly suggest the breeding of teenage Rambos.
William Manchester, author and WWII vet

MAGNIFICENT!
Paddy Griffith, Sandhurst history professor and author of Battle Tactics of the American Civil War and Forward into Battle.

...brilliant...a fine and necessary piece of work.
Arthur Hadley, author of Straw Giant

...a splendid book...it establishes a new line of scholarly inquiry, which is a remarkable achievement.
Bill Lind, author of The Maneuver Warfare Handbook, Free Congress Foundation Fellow, and co-host of Modern War (a national cable TV show)

I enjoyed (if that is the right word to use) On Killing enormously, congratulations on a fine piece of work.
Richard Holmes, author of Acts of War and Sandhurst History Professor

...honest, gutsy, patient disclosure of what¹s happening to our military kids -- and civilian kids as well.
F. Andy Carhartt, West Point class of Œ45, Presbyterian minister

It is very good, thoughtful and helpful on a subject of great importance. Humanistic and pacifistic in the way of the best soldiers.
Dr. Ted Nadelson, Chief of Psychiatry, Boston VA Medical Center.

...my deep appreciation for your book...because it said so many things I had felt were probably so, and because, also, it said so many new things.
Dr. Lloyd Gardner, the Charles and Mary Beard Professor at Rutgers

...this systematic examination of the individual soldier¹s behavior, like all good scientific theory making, leads to a series of useful explanations for a variety of phenomena...This important book deserves a wide readership. Essential for all libraries serving military personnel or veterans, including most public libraries.
Library Journal, Starred Review

...a provocative new book...the first scientific examination of how and why men kill in battle.
Little Rock Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

...an explosive look at why there is so much killing not just in wars but in modern society...it is a must read. I recommend it highly. His research...is frightening, and should be a wake-up call to society. I couldn¹t put it down.
Walt Gochenour, WWII vet, in 82d Airborne Division Association Journal

A study of relevance to a society of escalating violence.
Publishers Weekly

...excellent explications of what goes through a soldier¹s mind during war.
Portland Oregonian

I congratulate you on writing an important book which I find very helpful in understanding the human condition. Indeed, it serves to greatly increase my belief in the basic goodness of my fellow man.
Ladislav R. Hanka

I am thankful for work like yours which promotes the slow but very sure process of maturation which I see occurring in the collective human race.
Alison Wilson, Ontario, Canada

I very much appreciate your challenging and perceptive look at warfare and the act of killing. You are right that it is a taboo topic in our culture. As a long time antiwar activist it was palpably painful to read; never-the-less I valued the information and discussions.
Gregory W. Frux, Brooklyn, NY

On Killing may be the On War of the 21st Century.
Michael Anton Laurano, Attorney at Law, Boston, Massachutetts

My sincere congratulations on your extremely interesting book. Besides the subject itself with all its implications for civil society and military establishments, my wife and I were most impressed with your balanced and broad presentation. The fact that a professional military can write for the widest spectrum of political and moral persuasions with conviction and tolerance speaks highly of your intellectual and human qualities...It is a fact that all the modern media everywhere, but particularly those in the Latin American subcontinents, are under the good and bad influence of the American products for the movies, TV, video games, etc. Even though the local levels of violence do not reach yet those prevailing in the worse derelict areas of large American cities, the trend is clear and points in the same direction. We hope that a translation of your book will soon be available for the benefit of Spanish speaking readers.
Herman Schwember, PhD, writing from Chile

My deepest congratulations on what I believe to be an extremely important book. I salute your bravery, courage and insight. Your work is indispensable for our future.
Bob Hughes, Chevy Chase, MD

Thanks for writing On Killing and being so straightforward in stating your case. It is a compelling, profoundly moving book. I am recommending it to my friends and at all my speaking engagements. Also, my sons, now 13 and 15, will be encouraged to read it as they get into their later teens and tackle coming-of-age personal issues.And thank you for caring and compassion. You may be a trained killer, but your life journey has crafted you into a warrior with heart -- the kind of male hero we need a lot more of in our society.
Gloria DeGaetano, National Speaker and Expert on Media Literacy,Author of Screen Smarts

For Further Information or Speaking EngagementsContact Colonel Grossman at:
The Killology Institute
END

Book Description

An updated edition of a perennial bestseller - the "illuminating account of how soldiers learn to kill and how they live with the experience of having killed." - Washington Post

Edition details

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316330116
• ISBN 13: 9780316330114
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400