Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic

by James Gilligan

Book Overview

Drawing on firsthand experience as a prison psychiatrist, his own family history, and literature, Gilligan unveils the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who will not only kill others but destroy themselves rather than suffer a loss of self-respect. With devastating clarity, Gilligan traces the role that shame plays in the etiology of murder and explains why our present penal system only exacerbates it. Brilliantly argued, harrowing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679779124
• ISBN13: 9780679779124
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Shedding Light on the Dark Side

I lived with violence (or to be more accurate, the constant threat of...) and in an attempt to understand it, I bought James Gilligan's book after I heard him on the radio. Unfortunately the damaged young man named Dennis X described almost perfectly the person who inhabited my apartment space. The author's insight into the twisted logic of violence mirrored my own personal observations. His perspective immediately helped me to set aside emotion and confusion, to communicate and handle my situation better and ultimately plot my successful escape! Useful for any of us who have to navigate amongst angry and potentially violent people in an urban setting.

incredibly important book!

This book is probably one of the most important books written on the subject of violence in America. I would couple it with Steven Stosny"s Treating Attachment Abuse: A Compassionate Approach as creating a solution to the problem of violence. If you are interested in the solution and not in perpetuating the problem, read these books.

Brilliant writing from experience

I have only read the first half of this book. Mr. Gilliam is 'right on' with his analysis of violent crime and life today...and why the prisons are filling up as they are. He is so ingenius as to spell out how prevention is so attainable, yet going totally ignored by our systems, both moral and judicial today. That is the sad part. I was in prison, and know what he is talking about is very true.......now I am a youth violence researcher and Hispanic Gang Alternative Educational Specialist. His work has tied together many loose ends for my theories. Each page is fascinating and interwoven with factual stories.........makes it very good reading. Del Hendrixson Dallas, Tx

An incredibly important study

Dr. Gilligan's years of psychiatric work with America's most violent males brought him to ask why America is the most violent, and yet most penal, industrialized country on Earth. The possibilities for an answer seem to surprise even him. Writing with clarity and incredible compassion, Gilligan examines mythology, ritual and the role of shame in the mechanics of violence in American society. His case for treating violence as an issue of health rather than morals is sure to be unpopular with America's prison czars and those scientists looking diligently and expensively for the "violence gene." "Violence..." is gripping, painful, disturbing, and, through Gilligans' clear suggestions for combatting this deadly outbreak, hopeful

A must-read for anyone concerned with violence in America

At a time when dialog on this subject is dominated by unscrupulous politicians appealing to ignorance and vengeance, this book provides a thoughtful study of why men (and it usually is men) commit unspeakable crimes. The book is based on Dr. Gilligan's years of work with violent men in maximum security prisons. It goes far beyond clinical study of deviant individuals to show parallels between criminal behavior and society's responses to crime. It turns to Greek tragedy, classic literature, and mythology, as well as psychiatry, for understanding. It shows how similar societal forces lay behind Hitler's rise to power. It asks, and provides answers to, the fundamental question: Why is violence far more widespread in America than in any other Western democracy?