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  • Power, Violence, and Mass Death in Pre-Modern and Modern Times
  • Yuval Noah Harari
Power, Violence, and Mass Death in Pre-Modern and Modern Times. Edited by Joseph Canning et al. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2004. ISBN 0-7546-3042-0. Illustrations. Tables. Figures. Notes. Index of names. Pp. viii, 220. $84.95.

This book is a collection of articles whose stated purpose is to compare the relationship of power, violence, and mass death in fourteenth-, seventeenth- and twentieth-century Europe. The choice of these three centuries is explained by their being exceptionally violent phases in European history, characterized more than other centuries by warfare, disease, persecution and mass death. Though it is questionable whether these three centuries were indeed exceptional (especially when taking into account European violence outside Europe), any long-term comparative study of power, violence and mass death in European history is a most welcome initiative.

As the authors rightly point out, the relationship of power, violence, and mass death has become central to the study of almost every period of European [End Page 1244] history, yet there have been relatively few long-term comparative studies of this relationship. Such studies are essential to put the events and phenomena of each period into a proper perspective. In particular, such studies would help determine whether the often-made claims about the revolutionary nature of twentieth-century violence are justified. The book purports to be such a groundbreaking comparative study, aiming to examine in particular how in these three centuries violence and mass death influenced mentalities and world-views.

Unfortunately, as one the editors himself explains, all the articles "focus on the specific" and do not seek "to facilitate a comprehensive historical comparison" (p. 4). None of the articles compares the relationship of power, violence and mass death in different centuries, and none even tries to present an overview of their relationship in any one of the centuries.

Even more problematic is the fact that the discussions of the different centuries tend to focus on different themes. For instance, of the three articles on the fourteenth century, two deal with natural catastrophes—the famine of 1315-22 and the Black Death. In contrast, in the parts dealing with the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, all articles are about war, and no article discusses, say, the Spanish Influenza or AIDS. Similarly, whereas in the part dealing with the seventeenth century there are two very interesting articles on war paintings and on the personal experience of violence and trauma, there is hardly any discussion of these themes in the context of the fourteenth or twentieth centuries. The part dealing with the twentieth century is particularly narrow in its focus, as all four articles discuss the representation of the two World Wars, while neglecting most of the issues raised in the book's first two parts.

Simply by juxtaposing these articles side-by-side the book poses several intriguing questions, and marks some of the paths a truly comparative study might follow. However, the book itself does not follow these paths. Consequently, readers who are looking for a comprehensive overview of the history of violence and mass death in medieval and modern Europe would get only a very partial and checkered view from this book. The book can be more valuable for scholars who already specialize in the history of violence and mass death in one period, and who wish to widen their perspective.

Yuval Noah Harari
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel
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