Daniel Jonah Goldhagen

Goldhagen argues that we shouldnt understand genocides as mysterious aberrations or a series of unrelated atrocities, but as a form of politics which can be responded to politically and effectively. To fully understand and address the issue, its unhelpful to focus on genocide; we should instead start by reconceiving genocide as one aspect of the broader phenomenon of eliminationism, the set of beliefs

Goldhagen argues that we shouldnt understand genocides as mysterious aberrations or a series of unrelated atrocities, but as a form of politics which can be responded to politically and effectively. To fully understand and address the issue, its unhelpful to focus on genocide; we should instead start by reconceiving genocide as one aspect of the broader phenomenon of eliminationism, the set of beliefs, desires, conversations, ideologies, acts and policies that exist within countries that make mass annihilation thinkable and an actual option.

Our failures to adequately describe, explain, and understand the mechanisms of genocide have, as Goldhagen shows, made it difficult to anticipate and to stop. He lays out the roots and motivations of mass slaughter, and proposes novel, practical measures to prevent mass killing not merely stopping ongoing genocides well before any weapon is brandished.

Worse Than War, with unflinching moral and analytical clarity its author is known for, is also the basis for a forthcoming primetime PBS documentary. Until deciding to devote himself full-time to writing, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen taught political science for many years at Harvard University. He is also the author of Hitler's Willing Executioners and A Moral Reckoning and contributes to major newspapers and magazines around the world.

Harry Kreisler introduces."