Mass Hate: The Global Rise of Genocide and Terror

By Neil J. Kressel

Book Overview

Mass Hate explores why the brutality of humankind erupted and flowed more expansively in the twentieth century than ever before. Psychologist Neil Kressel recommends specific steps to help stem this bloody global tide of slaughter, terror and genocide. In his investigation, Kressel focuses on the horrifying butchery in Rwanda, the terrifying tactics of rape and torture of women in Bosnia, the systematic murder of Jews and others during the Holocaust. He examines history, psychology, and political science for explanations of what propels a citizen to raise a machete against innocent neighbors, and, in a moving conclusion, suggests practical ways for humankind to eradicate the causes of mass hate. Now included in the preface is a discussion of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on New York and the Pentagon.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813339510
• ISBN13: 9780813339511
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Profound Reading

This is a profound work in the understanding of Hate on a Global and even personal level. The author explains how a variety of people can become sucked into the roll of violent genocidists. I recommend this book full heartedly. Just make sure NOT to sit down and read all at once. Have a recovery system set up before you start reading. Put the book down now and then and read something uplifting.

The Persona in many scenarios

The author analyzes many social theories including Milgram obedience experiments to Zimbardo prison and the group conformity factor studies, personality traits and disorders. Arguing whether their applicability worth or not to Rwanda, Burundi, Bosnia, Kosovo/Serbia and the Nazi Germany.

This book deals with the darkside

I will admit that reading about genocide is a bit of a downer, but Kressel does a great job remaining clinical in his analysis. I think that anyone who is interested in stopping genocide needs to read this book and understand the greater implications of how to halt it as a tool used by dictators. In particular I think his analysis of 'Can anything be done' is particularly useful to people in government who make foreign policy decisions. If you are interested in the psychology/sociology of warfare, this is a must read.

A pioneering study of collective Evil

In this pioneering work Neil J. Kressel examines the phenomenom of mass- hatred. He provides chilling and detailed descriptions of some of the great evil actions of this century. He describes how the mass- rapes by Serbian soldiers of Muslim women in Kosovo were actually a part of military- doctrine, as the Serbian Army's leaders believed that soldiers who engaged in such activities would fight in a better way. He also has chapters in this work on the mass- murders in Rwanda, and the mentality of the Muslim extremists involved in the 9/11 terror acts. He looks at Nazi hatred in the Holocaust. The book was originally published in 1996 and an expanded version was published in 2002. One of the most interesting insights of his researched was revealed in an article he published in the 'Chronicle of Higher Education' There he wondered out loud why social psychologists who had given so much time and attention to the study of European anti- Semitism avoided the increasingly troublesome subject of Islamic Anti- Semitism. In the article he chronicles what to that time were recent developments .He wrote: "These days, more than a few leading Muslim clerics routinely denounce Jews with dehumanizing rhetoric. For example, in April 2002, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi of Egypt, one of the most important Sunni clerics, described Jews in his weekly sermon as "the enemies of Allah, descendants of apes and pigs." Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, the imam of the most important mosque in Mecca, similarly sermonized that the Jews are "the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs." The imam further advised Arabs to abandon all peace initiatives with Jews and asked Allah to annihilate them. Many leaders of Muslim countries enthusiastically greeted former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's similarly racist ranting." What is even more alarming is that since the publication of this book and article a would - be Muslim Hitler has arisen in Iran Mohammed Amadinejad who openly calls for the destruction of Israel,and the United States and threatens to bring it about. His chantings of 'Death to Israel' before mass- audiences in Tehran are the most striking evidence today that the kind of mass- hatred and collective evil studied in this work , are too much alive today. Kressel's writing is clear. He provides convincing empirical evidence, political information and psychological analysis .This work is an extremely important study on what is arguably, the most worrisome problem, Mankind faces today.

Very Infomitive

Mass Hate: Global Rise to Genocide and Terror was riveting! The book spells out the factors that motivate societies into producing acts of mass hate. I found the book comprehensive, well thought out, well researched, and intellectually stimulating. Kressel ties recent atrocities together and draws logical correlations of behavioral patterns to explain the motivation of the perpetrators of acts of mass hate. If you study the field of Psychology and Sociology in the area of hate and terror, this is necessary