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Books

What makes mankind behave so atrociously? Ian Buruma and Joanna Bourke investigate

Two books tackle the subject of violence in strikingly different ways

6 December 2014

9:00 AM

6 December 2014

9:00 AM

Theater of Cruelty: Art, Film and the Shadows of War Ian Buruma

NYRB, pp.425, £19.99, ISBN: 9781590177778

Wounding the World: How Military Violence and War-Play Invade Our Lives Joanna Bourke

Virago, pp.320, £20, ISBN: 9780349004327

The first interaction between two men recorded in the Bible involves a murder. In the earliest classic of English literature, one of the murderer’s descendants has his arm ripped from its socket by a young warrior who celebrates his gruesome victory by drinking himself blotto; the next day, our hero wakes up (not hungover, apparently) and kills his opponent’s mother.

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'Theater of Cruelty: Art, Film and the Shadows of War', £15.99 and 'Wounding the World: How Military Violence and War-Play Invade Our Lives', £17 are available from the Spectator Bookshop. Tel: 08430 600033

 

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