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Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 5th PRINTING Edition
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This is R. J. Rummel's fourth book in a series devoted to genocide and government mass murder, or what he calls democide. He presents the primary results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical sketch of the major cases of democide, those in which one million or more people were killed by a regime. In Death by Government, Rummel does not aim to describe democide itself, but to determine its nature and scope in order to test the theory that democracies are inherently nonviolent.
Rummel discusses genocide in China, Nazi Germany, Japan, Cambodia, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and Pakistan. He also writes about areas of suspected genocide: North Korea, Mexico, and feudal Russia. His results clearly and decisively show that democracies commit less democide than other regimes. The underlying principle is that the less freedom people have, the greater the violence; the more freedom, the less the violence. Thus, as Rummel says, "The problem is power. The solution is democracy. The course of action is to foster freedom."
Death by Government is a compelling look at the horrors that occur in modern societies. It depicts how democide has been very much a part of human history. Among other examples, the book includes the massacre of Europeans during the Thirty Years' War, the relatively unknown genocide of the French Revolution, and the slaughtering of American Indians by colonists in the New World. This riveting account is an essential tool for historians, political scientists, and scholars interested in the study of genocide.
- ISBN-101560009276
- ISBN-13978-1560009276
- Edition5th PRINTING
- Publication dateJanuary 30, 1997
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6 x 1.18 x 9 inches
- Print length520 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Review
* Named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice!
-[Death by Government] is a compelling study of what the author calls democide--the intentional killing by governments through genocide, politicide, massacre, and terror. . . . A product of eight years of research by a distinguished political scientist, this is an unrivaled magnum opus with dozens of tables, figures, copious notes, and a massive bibliography. Essential reading for historians, political scientists, and readers interested in genocide.-
--R. H. Dekmejian, Choice
-Death by Government should be read in history classes not just across America, but around the world. The problem of power, as Rummel terms it, remains with us today. . . . Only if we learn from the past can we ever hope to end state-sanctioned murder. The case for human liberty and limited government has never been made more effectively than by this fearsome book.-
--Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
-Death by Government is a good introduction to the general phenomena of state-sponsored mass murder or democide (Rummel's concept). The numerous case studies are a mizture of carefully wrought description of the horrendous suffering of peoples under maily authoritarian political systems, with just the right dose of personal horror stories to make the book a memorable study of human deprivation and misery. For this effort, Rummel ought to be applauded.-
--Barbara Harff, the Journal of Interdisciplinary History
-With this volume, Rummel has completed his magnum opus on genocide and government mass murder, in short what Rummel calls 'democide'. . . . Rummel's methodology is based on averaging figures from a large number of sources, rather than historical source criticism or demographic estimates. This is a controversial method, yet it is clearly documented and well argued. . . . This work if a major achievement and will provide a reference point which no future systematic work on democide can ignore.-
--Nils Petter Gleditsch, Journal of Peace Research
-Governments have murdered about 169 million people in the twentieth century, according to Rummel's estimate. . . . Yet mass murder by governments has been largely ignored by political science. Rummel argues that, to rectify this omission, a reconceptualization of government and politics is required. To this end he proposes the concept of 'democide', which he defines as the intentional killing by a government of unarmed people. . . . Rummerl draws our attention to facts that are often ignored and should not be.-
--Michael Freeman, the Slavonic and East European Review
* Named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice!
"[Death by Government] is a compelling study of what the author calls democide--the intentional killing by governments through genocide, politicide, massacre, and terror. . . . A product of eight years of research by a distinguished political scientist, this is an unrivaled magnum opus with dozens of tables, figures, copious notes, and a massive bibliography. Essential reading for historians, political scientists, and readers interested in genocide."
--R. H. Dekmejian, Choice
"Death by Government should be read in history classes not just across America, but around the world. The problem of power, as Rummel terms it, remains with us today. . . . Only if we learn from the past can we ever hope to end state-sanctioned murder. The case for human liberty and limited government has never been made more effectively than by this fearsome book."
--Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
"Death by Government is a good introduction to the general phenomena of state-sponsored mass murder or democide (Rummel's concept). The numerous case studies are a mizture of carefully wrought description of the horrendous suffering of peoples under maily authoritarian political systems, with just the right dose of personal horror stories to make the book a memorable study of human deprivation and misery. For this effort, Rummel ought to be applauded."
--Barbara Harff, the Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"With this volume, Rummel has completed his magnum opus on genocide and government mass murder, in short what Rummel calls 'democide'. . . . Rummel's methodology is based on averaging figures from a large number of sources, rather than historical source criticism or demographic estimates. This is a controversial method, yet it is clearly documented and well argued. . . . This work if a major achievement and will provide a reference point which no future systematic work on democide can ignore."
--Nils Petter Gleditsch, Journal of Peace Research
"Governments have murdered about 169 million people in the twentieth century, according to Rummel's estimate. . . . Yet mass murder by governments has been largely ignored by political science. Rummel argues that, to rectify this omission, a reconceptualization of government and politics is required. To this end he proposes the concept of 'democide', which he defines as the intentional killing by a government of unarmed people. . . . Rummerl draws our attention to facts that are often ignored and should not be."
--Michael Freeman, the Slavonic and East European Review
"Outstanding Title! [This is] a compelling study of what the author calls democide--the intentional killing by governments through genocide, politicide, massacre, and terror. The book focuses on 14 democides of the 20th century by the governments of the Soviet Union, Communist China, Nazi Germany, Nationalist China, Japan, Cambodia, Turkey, Vietnam, Poland, Pakistan, Communist Yugoslavia, North Korea, Mexico, and Feudal Russia--a total of 169 million murders, which Rummel carefully documents through elaborate statistical techniques... A product of eight years of research by a distinguished political scientist, this is an unrivaled magnum opus with dozens of tables, figures, copious notes, and massive bibliography. Essential reading for historians, political scientists, and readers interested in genocide."
--R. H. Dekmejian, Choice
"["Death by Government"] should be read in history classes not just across America, but around the world. The problem of power, as Rummel terms it, remains with us today: . . . Only if we learn from the past can we ever hope to end state-sanctioned murder. The case for human liberty and limited government has never been made more effectively than by this fearsome book."
--Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
"["Death by Government"] is a compelling study of what the author calls democide--the intentional killing by governments through genocide, politicide, massacre, and terror. . . . A product of eight years of research by a distinguished political scientist, this is an unrivaled magnum opus with dozens of tables, figures, copious notes, and a massive bibliography. Essential reading for historians, political scientists, and readers interested in genocide."
--R. H. Dekmejian, University of Southern California
"Death by Government should be read in history classes not just across America, but around the world. The problem of power, as Rummel terms it, remains with us today. . . . Only if we learn from
"["Death by Government"] should be read in history classes not just across America, but around the world. The problem of power, as Rummel terms it, remains with us today: . . . Only if we learn from the past can we ever hope to end state-sanctioned murder. The case for human liberty and limited government has never been made more effectively than by this fearsome book."
--Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
"["Death by Government"] is a compelling study of what the author calls democide--the intentional killing by governments through genocide, politicide, massacre, and terror. . . . A product of eight years of research by a distinguished political scientist, this is an unrivaled magnum opus with dozens of tables, figures, copious notes, and a massive bibliography. Essential reading for historians, political scientists, and readers interested in genocide."
--R. H. Dekmejian, University of Southern California
"["Death by Government"] should be read in history classes not just across America, but around the world. The problem of power, as Rummel terms it, remains with us today: . . . Only if we learn from the past can we ever hope to end state-sanctioned murder. The case for human liberty and limited government has never been made more effectively than by this fearsome book."
--Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
"["Death by Government"] is a compelling study of what the author calls democide--the intentional killing by governments through genocide, politicide, massacre, and terror. . . . A product of eight years of research by a distinguished political scientist, this is an unrivaled magnum opus with dozens of tables, figures, copious notes, and a massive bibliography. Essential reading for historians, political scientists, and readers interested in genocide."
--R. H. Dekmejian, University of Southern California
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Routledge; 5th PRINTING edition (January 30, 1997)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 520 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1560009276
- ISBN-13 : 978-1560009276
- Item Weight : 2.12 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.18 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #180,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #108 in Human Rights (Books)
- #321 in Jewish Holocaust History
- #495 in Criminology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

R.J. Rummel is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science. He has published twenty-four nonfiction books (one that received an award for being among the most referenced), six novels, and about 100 peer-reviewed professional articles; has received the Susan Strange Award of the International Studies Association in 1999 for having intellectually most challenged the field; and in 2003 was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conflict Processes Section, American Political Science Association. He has been frequently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
See also "about R.J. Rummel www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/PERSONAL.HTM, or his curriculum vita at www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/LONGVITA.HTM. His website is at www.hawaii.edu/powerkills, his daily blog is at http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com/
Many of his books are downloadable free in pdf at: www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NH.HTM
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Rummels book "Statistics of Democide" presents his findings in great detail (very long lists of statistics), and additional information can be found on his web site. This book "Death by Government" gives some statistics on the topic, but the focus of the book is not on the statistics but descriptions of the democides and the regimes that perpetrated them. Therefore this book is easier to read and perhaps a bit more interesting (but just as gruesome) compared to "Statistics of Democide". However, "Statistics of Democide" is a better factoid resource.
In this book he describes the following murder regimes and their democides in more detail: Soviet Gulag State (62M), Chinese Communist Anthill (35M later revised to 78M), The Nazi Genocide State (21M mostly genocide), The Depraved Nationalist Regime, KMT (10M), Japans Savage Military (6M), The Hell State Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (2M), Turkeys Genocidal Purges (1.9M), The Vietnamese War State (Vietcong) (1.7M), Poland's Ethnic Cleansing after the war (1.6M), The Pakistani Cutthroat state (1.5M), Titos Slaughter House (1.1M), Orwellian North Korea (1.7M), Barbarous Mexico (1.4M), Feudal Russia (1.1M). M=million killed.
The descriptions of the democides are horrific and very sad. The big questions are how can these things happen? People can be very cruel and brutal towards each other that is for sure, but regimes that hold a lot of power over their citizens are the regimes that will commit these crimes. To quote from Rummels web site: "Why do dictators kill and make war? Is it for glory; for things, for beliefs, for hatred, for power? Yes, but more, because they can". Regimes that can't do it won't. Democratic regimes, especially liberal democracies commit very little democide.
Rummel delves into the historical tensions that brought about most of the conflicts that lead to mass exterminations. Many of us may know nothing beyond the basics about Stalin's Great Terror or Hitler's Holocaust. What's frightening to realize as you read this book is how the demagoguery that lead to these mass murder incidents is not all that far removed from what we hear from some of our own politicians today.
The author also goes into quite a bit of detail about some of the lesser known campaigns of genocide (or democide, as he insists on calling it) of the 20th century, such as that of Turkey against the Armenians, and incidents by the Polish, Japanese, and Pakistanis.
This is an important book. I believe it is one of the most important books I've ever read. No one who considers himself a serious scholar of 20th century history can omit this book from his collection.
Top reviews from other countries
20th century is the bloodiest on record. More innocent people were killed by their own government than in all the wars that took place, combined.
This book shows why citizens should own firearms and it is no coincidence that these regimes disarmed their citizens before carrying out their evil deeds.
If you think this can never happen in western countries; humans haven’t changed much and we are closer than you think.
Sometimes hard to read given how terrible the subject matter is and maybe too many figures. But a must to understand the grave danger that unchecked power represents. Should be required reading in senior high school history class.








