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Print Price: $49.99

Format:
Paperback
272 pp.
6.125" x 9.25"

ISBN-13:
9780190236472

Copyright Year:
2016

Imprint: OUP US

To Kill A People

Genocide in the Twentieth Century

John Cox

There have been numerous books on genocide in the last twenty years, but To Kill a People offers a different approach. It is one of the few books on genocide expressly written for use in the college classroom. The book includes four case studies - the Armenian, Nazi, Cambodian, and Rwandan genocides - and substantive introductory and concluding chapters that contribute to two key debates within genocide studies: how to define "genocide" and place it in relation to other mass atrocities, and how to detect and analyze the social, historical, and cultural forces that produce genocidal violence.

To Kill a People examines a vast range of the latest research, offers original interpretations and arguments, and draws upon the author's own archival research on three continents. The case studies are supplemented by primary readings and thought-provoking questions, and the book concludes with a chapter that synthesizes the lessons and issues that arise from the study of genocide. A chapter-length bibliographic essay further distinguishes this book and will be useful to students and experts alike.

Readership : For undergraduate students as well as general readers.

Reviews

"To Kill a People is the best short introduction to genocide as both a mass crime and a field of study. Cogently structured and elegantly written, it combines an expert grasp of the causes and dynamics of genocide with an impressive command of the scholarly literature. It is also distinguished by a humane critical perspective, founded on a conviction that genocide is not an inevitable or necessarily eternal feature of human affairs. This galvanizing work will long be read, studied, and appreciated by students and other concerned citizens."
--Adam Jones, author of The Scourge of Genocide: Essays and Reflections and Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction
"Cox effectively combines case studies of four of the most devastating mass exterminations of the twentieth century with much needed conceptual and background discussions that raise key overarching questions."
--Thomas Pegelow-Kaplan, Director, Appalachian State Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies
"Cox offers fresh perspectives on the meaning and significance of the term genocide. To Kill a People will add significantly to our ongoing study of this topic."
--David M. Crowe, author of War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History

Preface
List of Maps
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Introduction
Defining Genocide
Other Disputes over Terminology and Definitions
This Book's Definition
Genocide in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds
Destruction of the Native Peoples of the Americas
The "Century of Genocide"
Modern Imperialism
Mass Atrocities in the Soviet Union and Asia
Post-World War II Genocide
Why Do Humans Commit Genocide?
1: The Armenian Genocide
The Armenians
A Decaying Empire Confronts the Modern Age
Erosion of the Empire
The "Young Turk" Revolution
"Young Turk" Nationalism and Racism
April 24: The Decimation of Armenian Leadership
Resistance
Aftermath: Struggles for Land and Justice
Organized from on High
How Many Victims?
Genocide Denial
Conclusions
Primary Sources and Study Questions
2: The Holocaust
Anti-Jewish Prejudice in History
Preconditions for the Holocaust: World War I and Weimar Germany
Adolf Hitler and the Birth of the Nazi Party
Elimination of Opponents and Intensification of Repression: 1933-1938
Stages in Anti-Jewish Persecution
World War II
Operation Barbarossa and the "Final Solution"
Auschwitz, "Operation Reinhard," and the Peak of Nazi Genocide
The Nazis' Collaborators and Ideological Soul Mates
The Nazis' Non-Jewish Victims
Jewish Resistance
Bystanders and Rescuers
The End of the Third Reich
Conclusions
Primary Sources and Study Questions
3: The Cambodian Genocide
Angkor and Pre-Colonial Cambodia
Cambodia and Indochina under French Colonialism
Emergence of the Communist Party of Cambodia
"Brother Number 1": Pol Pot
Cambodian Politics in the 1950s and 1960s
War in Vietnam and Civil War in Cambodia
Remaking Cambodian Society
Targeting of Minority groups
How Many Were Killed?
"Genocide is too heavy for the shoulders of justice."
Conclusions
Primary Sources and Study Questions
4: The Rwandan Genocide
Rwandan History and European Racial Philosophies
Emergence of Hutu Parties and Independence
Habyarimana's Second Republic
1993 Strife in Neighboring Burundi
Dashed Hopes for Peace
Assassination of Habyarimana and the Descent into Genocide
Rape as a Weapon of War and Genocide
Downfall of the Hutu Regime
Failure of the "International Community"
Rescue and Resistance
Post-Genocide Rwanda
Authoritarianism and War under Kagame
Conclusions: How was it Possible?
Primary Sources and Questions
Conclusions:
For an Integrated Approach to the Study of Genocide
The Psyches of Genocidal Perpetrators
Warfare and Genocide
Nationalism, Vulnerability, Perceptions of Grievance and Humiliation
Another Century of War and Genocide?
Bibliographical Essay and Suggested Films
Timeline of genocide and genocidal crimes against humanity, 1900 to present
Credits
Index

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John Cox is Associate Professor of International Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he directs the Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies. He is the author of Circles of Resistance: Jewish, Leftist, and Youth Dissidence in Nazi Germany (2009).

Writing History - William Kelleher Storey and Towser Jones
A Century of Conflict - Jeremy Black
Europe's Long Century - Spencer Di Scala
Annihilation - Thomas Zeiler

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