Product Review

Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction is the most wide-ranging textbook on genocide yet published. The book is designed as a text for upper-undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a primer for non-specialists and general readers interested in learning about one of humanity’s enduring blights.

Fully updated to reflect the latest thinking in this rapidly developing field, this new edition:

• provides an introduction to genocide as both a historical phenomenon and an analytical-legal concept, including an extended discussion of the concept of genocidal intent, and the dynamism and contingency of genocidal processes


• discusses the role of state-building, imperialism, war, and social revolution in fueling genocide


• supplies a wide range of full-length case studies of genocides worldwide, each with an accompanying box-text


• explores perspectives on genocide from the social sciences, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science/international relations, and gender studies


• considers "The Future of Genocide," with attention to historical memory and genocide denial; initiatives for truth, justice, and redress; and strategies of intervention and prevention.

Written in clear and lively prose, liberally sprinkled with over 100 illustrations and maps, and including personal testimonies from genocide survivors, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction has established itself as the core textbook of the new generation of genocide scholarship. An accompanying website (www.genocidetext.net) features a broad selection of supplementary materials, teaching aids, and Internet resources.