Beloved Enemies: Our Need for Opponents [Hardcover]

David P. Barash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1994

Do the fractious groups of Arabs and Israelis actually need each other? Can the Pentagon find new enemies to replace the USSR? Are married couples held together by a shared sense of enmity toward outside parties and even each other? Who is more likely to cultivate enemies - men or women? Is the 'devil' a created enemy? Is the need for enemies psychological, sociological, or biological? These and other fascinating questions are explored by David P. Barash as he skilfully combines findings from biology, psychology, sociology, politics, history, and even literature to shed new and unexpected light on the human condition.Barash also offers startling and controversial observations about who we are as human beings and why we seem to thrive on adversarial relationships. He argues that we create and perpetuate our 'enemy system' by 'passing the pain along' - from child abuse to ethnic antagonism. We may well harbour a vestigial 'Neanderthal mentality', which induces us to behave in ways that were adaptive in our evolutionary past but which have broad and even global implications today. "Beloved Enemies" concludes with a hopeful message: we can overcome, not simply our enemies, but our need to have enemies, and our penchant for creating them. To those who seek a better understanding of the nature of conflict and to those who remain confident that we can find answers to seemingly endless and complex antagonisms, this book offers much food for thought.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 309 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; First edition (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879759089
• ISBN-13: 978-0879759087
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,616,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David P. Barash is an evolutionary biologist (Ph.D. zoology, Univ. of Wisconsin), a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, and the author of 30 books, dealing with various aspects of evolution, animal and human behavior, and peace studies. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received numerous awards. He is most proud, however, of his very personal collaboration with Judith Eve Lipton, his three children, one grandchild, and having been named by an infamous rightwing nut as one of the "101 most dangerous professors" in the United States. His dangerousness may or may not be apparent from his writing!

Customer Reviews

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2.0 out of 5 stars Political Tract Masquerade, March 5, 2006

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This review is from: Beloved Enemies: Our Need for Opponents (Hardcover)

This is a conflicted review. The author allows much of himself to show through this book, so although I enjoyed some parts of the book, I found myself disliking Barash as a person, and especially as a scientist. He loves data that supports his political stance, and ignores anything that threatens that position. Because of this, he overlooks some obvious material that would give a much clearer understanding of the topic.

True to the book's theme, almost of his villians (enemies) are selected from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

For someone who is naive about conflict studies, the book might serve as a general, if rather biased introduction., For anyone who has invested any time in pondering these matters, the book is a waste of time and energy.