"The 13 original essays in this collection constitute a valuable addition to the large and still-growing literature on genocide. . . . Standard concept of genocide are reexamined and comparisons are drawn with related phenomena of mass destruction, such as 'total war.' . . . Most provocative and important of all, new theoretical perspectives and schemes of interpretation are presented. . . . The collection is enhanced by an excellent introduction and afterword. It is supplemented by a very useful selective annotated bibliography of the more important works on the problem of genocide, and an excellent index. Highly recommended."—Choice

"A useful contribution to the field, with some outstanding articles and stimulating suggestions for the comparative study of genocide."—Contemporary Sociology

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition

Acknowledgments

Introduction, Isidor Wallimann and Michael N. Dobkowski


Part I: Conceptualizing, Classifying, Defining, and Explaining Genocide: Some Marco Perspectives

1. A Typology of Genocide and Some Implications for the Human Rights Agenda, Kurt Jonassohn and Frank Chalk

2. Human Destructiveness and Politics: The Twentieth Century as an Age of Genocide, Roger W. Smith

3. The Etiology of Genocides, Barbara Harff

4. Genocide and the Reconstruction of Social Theory: Observations on the Exclusivity of Collective Death, Irving Louis Horowitz

5. Genocide, the Holocaust, and Triage, John K. Roth

6. Genocide and Total War: A Preliminary Comparison, Eric Markusen

7. Social Madness, Ronald Aronson


Part II: Understanding Occurrences of Genocide: Some Case Studies and Investigations of Related Social Processes

8. Was the Holocaust Unique?: A Peculiar Question? Alan Rosenberg

9. The Holocaust and Historical Explanation, Robert G.L. Waite

10. Discrimination, persecution, Theft, and Murder under Color of Law: The Totalitarian Corruption of the German Legal System, 1933-1945, Gunter W. Remmling

11. The Ultimate Repression: The Genocide of the Armenians, 1915-1917, Gerad J. Libaridian

12. Relations of Genocide: Land and Lives in the Colonization of Australia, Tony Barta

13. Middleman Minorities and Genocide, Walter P. Zenner


Afterword: Genocide and Civilization, Richard L. Rubenstein

Bibliographical Essay

Index

About the Contributors

About the Author

Isidor Wallimann is lecturer in sociology at the School of Social Work in Basel and the Institute of Sociology at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Michael N. Dobkowski is professor of religious studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

6 x 9, 348 pages

March 2000