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See more like this at LWC BOOKS This book is brand new and has been autographed. The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and in Society What makes soldiers kill-or not-animates this intriguing survey by a psychologist and former U.S. Army officer. Col. Grossman reveals that only a fraction of soldiers kill during warfare (and feel revulsion when they do); the rest (about 85 percent in World War II) resist by missing the target or refusing to fire. With an eye to the military command's imperative of overcoming that innate resistance, Col. Grossman quotes numerous anecdotes that exemplify the phenomenon and studies that examine it. With such knowledge, the military has implemented training that gets firing rates up to 90 percent of soldiers [as we saw in Vietnam], but the psychic cost of blazing away for real is heavy. Individually, a killer goes through thrill-remorse-rationalization stages; socially, the killer needs reassurance and if it is not received, will suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome, characteristic of Vietnam veterans. Col. Grossman concludes his findings of "enabling factors" in killing by identifying them at work in the rampant violence afflicting American society. On Killing delivers insights on human nature that are both gratifying and repelling. (this posting is the responsibility of the poster) |
Sklein@dfwind.com (Shelley Klein) for more information. All emails will be forwarded to the poster's actual email address.
