Cover
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Revised Edition
Introduction
Section I — Killing and the Existence of Resistance: A World of Virgins Studying Sex
Fight or Flight, Posture or Submit
Nonfirers Throughout History
Why Can't Johnny Kill?
The Nature and Source of the Resistance
Section II — Killing and Combat Trauma: The Role of Killing in Psychiatric Casualties
The Nature of Psychiatric Casualties: The Psychological Price of War
The Reign of Fear
The Weight of Exhaustion
The Mud of Guilt and Horror
The Wind of Hate
The Well of Fortitude
The Burden of Killing
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Section III — Killing and Physical Distance: From a Distance, You Don't Look Anything Like a Friend
Distance: A Qualitative Distinction in Death
Killing at Maximum and Long Range: Never a Need for Repentance or Regret
Killing at Mid- and Hand-Grenade Range: “You Can Never Be Sure It Was You”
Killing at Close Range: “I Knew That It Was up to Me, Personally, to Kill Him”
Killing at Edged-Weapons Range: An “Intimate Brutality”
Killing at Hand-to-Hand-Combat Range
Killing at Sexual Range: “The Primal Aggression, the Release, and Orgasmic Discharge”
Section IV — An Anatomy of Killing: All Factors Considered
The Demands of Authority: Milgram and the Military
Group Absolution: “The Individual Is Not a Killer, but the Group Is"
Emotional Distance: “To Me They Were Less than Animals”
The Nature of the Victim: Relevance and Payoff
Aggressive Predisposition of the Killer: Avengers, Conditioning, and the 2 Percent Who Like It
All Factors Considered: The Mathematics of Death
Section V — Killing and Atrocities: “No Honor Here, No Virtue”
The Full Spectrum of Atrocity
The Dark Power of Atrocity
The Entrapment of Atrocity
A Case Study in Atrocity
The Greatest Trap of All: To Live with That Which Thou Hath Wrought
Section VI — The Killing Response Stages
What Does It Feel Like to Kill?
Applications of the Model: Murder-Suicides, Lost Elections, and Thoughts of Insanity
Section VII — Killing in Vietnam: What Have We Done to Our Soldiers?
Desensitization and Conditioning in Vietnam: Overcoming the Resistance to Killing
What Have We Done to Our Soldiers? The Rationalization of Killing and How It Failed in Vietnam
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Cost of Killing in Vietnam
The Limits of Human Endurance and the Lessons of Vietnam
Section VIII — Killing in America: What Are We Doing to Our Children?
A Virus of Violence
Desensitization and Pavlov's Dog at the Movies
B. F. Skinner's Rats and Operant Conditioning at the Video Arcade
Social Learning and Role Models in the Media
The Resensitization of America
Notes
Bibliography
Index