Worse Than War
Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity
An anatomy of mass killing: the leaders, the machinery and the ordinary people who choose to take part.
Goldhagen’s anatomy of mass killing across the twentieth century and after. He argues that genocide is not a descent into madness but a political project requiring a leader, a grievance to work on, and ordinary people who choose to take part. Comparative in method, it moves between Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia and the Holocaust to isolate what the episodes share.
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Mia Farrow
In Worse than War, Goldhagen lays out the elements; in order for genocide to take place, certain key components must be present: a leader with a political agenda who is able to use people’s existing fears, grievances, convictions or prejudices to convince them that another group poses a threat to their own security and well-being. Details are organised and put into action. Ordinary people choose to participate.
Interview · September 2010
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