Pioneers of Genocide Studies [Hardcover]

Samuel Totten (Editor), Steven Leonard Jacobs (Editor), Robert Jay Lifton (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765801515 | ISBN-13: 978-0765801517 | Publication Date: July 1, 2002 | Edition: annotated edition

New areas of research are not the result of a snap of the finger. They are carved out of the marrow of human existence. The study of genocide well illustrates this raw fact. From the early efforts that emerged in the struggle against Naism, and over the past half century, the field has now reached a point where there at least five genocide centers across the globe, and well over one hundred Holocaust centers. This work emerged out of an earlier effort at an oral history project; one that would enable a new generation of scholars, researchers and policy makers to assess the major foci of the field, efforts to develop ways and means to intervene and prevent future genocides, and review the successes and failures of the field. The editors of Pioneers of Genocide Studies emphasie that contributors should approach the questions of greatest relevance in a personal way, crafting a statement that reveals one's individual voice, persuasions, literary style, scholarly perspectives, and relevant details of one's life. The book succeeds admirably in the above aims, and, in so doing, epitomies scholarly autobiographical writing at its best. The book also includes the most important works by each author on the issue of genocide. As a result, the collective portrait enhances the usefulness of the volume for those new to the field. Among the contributors are experts in the Armenian Bosnian, Cambodian genocides, as well as the Holocaust against the Jewish people. The contributors are Rouben Adalian, M. Cherif Bassiouni, Israel W. Charney, Vahakn Dadrian, Helen Fein, Barbara Harff, David Hawk, Herbert Hirsch, Irving Louis Horowit, Richard Hovannisian, Henry Huttenbach, Leo Kuper, Raphael Lemkin, James E. Mace, Eric Markusen, Robert Melson, R.J. Rummel, Roger W. Smith, Gregory H. Stanton, Ervin Staub, Colin Tat, Yves Ternan, and the co-editors. The work has been five years in the making and represents a high watermark in the reflections and self-reflections on the comparative study of genocide.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Samuel Totten is professor of curriculum and instruction at the College of Education and Health Professions, University of Arkansas. His research interests include the Holocaust, genocide education, and genocide theory. He is the co-founding editor of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, co-editorof theJournal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies, and editor of the Transaction series on Genocide Studies.His numerous books includePlight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide; Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts; and Genocide in Darfur: Investigating Atrocities in the Sudan.

Steven Leonard Jacobs is associate professor and Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies in the department of religious studies at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He is the author of Shirot Bialik: A New and Annotated Translation of Chaim Nachman Bialik's Epic Poems, Raphael Lemkin's Thoughts on Nai Genocide: Not Guilty? and Contemporary Christian and Contemporary Jewish Religious Responses to the Shoah.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 617 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers; annotated edition edition (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765801515
• ISBN-13: 978-0765801517
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,889,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addressing the pervasive prevalence of brutal extermination, January 10, 2003

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneers of Genocide Studies (Hardcover)

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Samuel Totten (Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Health Professions, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville) and Steven Leonard Jacobs (Associate Professor and Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa), Pioneers Of Genocide Studies is a scholarly, 617-page compendium of learned essays contributed by a variety of informed and informative authors concerning the phenomena of twentieth-century mass murder -- especially as inspired, sanctioned, or perpetrated by governmental states. Addressing the pervasive prevalence of brutal extermination from the perspectives of psychology, sociology, theology, and law, Pioneers Of Genocide Studies also attempts to answer the question of what must be done if genocide is ever to end. Pioneers Of Genocide Studies is a seminal and highly recommended contribution to academic reference collections in the fields of 20th Century World History, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Holocaust Studies, Judaic Studies, and Political Science.