On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
Author: Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
The good news is that most soldiers are loath to kill. But armies have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming that instinctive aversion. The phycological cost for soldiers, as evidenced by the increase in post-traumatic stress, is devastating. The phycological cost for the rest of us is even greater: contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army’s conditioning techniques and directly contributes to our rising rate of violent crime, especially among the young.
This landmark study - now updated to compass suicide bombings, school shootings, twenty-first-century military conflicts, recent trends in crime, and more- brilliantly illuminates the techniques the military uses to help soldiers kill and raises vital questions about the implications of escalating violence in our society.
