On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society By Dave Grossman, G. Kloske ISBN: 9780316330114 ASIN: B000OU0K10 Published: 1996 Number of Pages: 366 Edition: 1st Binding: Paperback

Pricing & Availability: Additional Details: Product Type: Book Publisher: Back Bay Books Description: ON KILLING is the study of what author Lt. Col. Dave Grossman has termed "killology". This odd term describes, not killing between nations, but the exact circumstances involved when one individual ends the life of another individual, with the primary focus being on combat situations. I've sometimes wondered how I (someone who has never been anywhere near armed conflict) would fare on the frontlines, as killing another human being seems like an almost impossible psychological task.

International Standard Book Number: 4.95 (: 3.95 in Canada): 0316330000 :: 0316330116 (pb): 0316330116 (pbk.)
   - Terms of availability: 

Library of Congress Call Number
   - Classification number: U22.3
   - Item number: .G76 1995

Dewey Decimal Classification Number
   - Edition number:  20
   - Classification number: 355/.0019

Main Entry - Personal Name
   - Personal name: Grossman, Dave.

Title Statement
   - Title: On killing :
   - Remainder of title: the psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society /
   - Statement of responsibility, etc.: by Dave Grossman.
   - Statement of responsibility, etc.: Dave Grossman.

Edition Statement: 1st ed.: 1st pbk. ed.

Publication, Distribution, etc. (Imprint)
   - Place of publication, distribution, etc.: Boston :
   - Name of publisher, distribution, etc.: Little, Brown,
   - Date of publication, distribution, etc.: c1995.
   - Date of publication, distribution, etc.: c1996.

Physical Description
   - Extent: xxvi, 367 p. :
   - Extent: xxxiv, 366 p. :
   - Other physical details: ill. ;
   - Dimensions: 21 cm.
   - Dimensions: 24 cm.

General Note: "Back Bay books.": Originally published: 1995.

Bibliography, etc. Note
   - Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [348]-352) and index.

Formatted Contents Note: Sec. 1. Killing and the existence of resistance : a world of virgins studying sex. Chap. 1. Fight or flights, posture or submit -- Chap. 2. Nonfirers throughout history -- Chap. 3. Why can't Johnny kill? -- Chap. 4. The nature and source of resistance -- Sec. 2. Killing and combat trauma : the role of killing in psychiatric casualties -- Chap. 1. The nature of psychiatric casualties : the psychological price of war -- Chap. 2. The reign of fear -- Chap. 3. The weight of exhaustion -- Chap. 4. The mud of guilt and horror -- Chap. 5. The wind of hate -- Chap. 6. The well of fortitude -- Chap. 7. The burden of killing -- Chap. 8. The blind men and the elephant -- Sec. 3. Killing and physical distance : from a distance, you don't look anything like a friend. Chap. 1. Distance : a qualitative distinction in death -- Chap. 2. Killing at maximum and long range : never a need for repentance or regret -- Chap. 3. Killing at mid- and hand-grenade range : "you can never be sure it was you" -- Chap. 4. Killing at close range : "I knew that it was up to me, personally, to kill him" -- Chap. 5. Killing at edged-weapons range : an "intimate brutality" -- Chap. 6. Killing at hand-to-hand combat range -- Chap. 7. Killing at sexual range : "the primal aggression, the release, and orgasmic discharge" -- Sec. 4. An anatomy of killing : all factors considered. Chap. 1. The demands of authority : Milgram and the military -- Chap. 2. Group absolution : "the individual is not a killer, but the group is" -- Chap. 3. Emotional distance : "to me they were less than animals" -- Chap. 4. The nature of the victim : relevance and payoff -- Chap. 5. Aggressive predisposition of the killer : avengers, conditioning, and the 2 percent who like it -- Chap. 6. All factors considered : the mathematics of death -- Sec. 5. Killing and atrocities : "no honor here, no virtue." Chap. 1. The full spectrum of atrocity -- Chap. 2. The dark power of atrocity -- Chap. 3. The entrapment of atrocity -- Chap. 4. A case study in atrocity -- Chap. 5. The greatest trap of all : to live with that which thou hath wrought -- Sec. 6. Chap. 1. The killing response stages -- Chap. 2. Applications of the model : murder-suicides, lost elections, and thoughts of insanity -- Sec. 7. Chap. 1. Desensitization and conditioning in Vietnam : overcoming the resistance to killing -- Chap. 2. What have we done to our soldiers? : the rationalization of killing and how it failed in Vietnam -- Chap. 3. Post-traumatic stress disorder and the cost of killing in Vietnam -- Chap. 4. The limits of human endurance and the lessons of Vietnam -- Sec. 8. Killing in America : what are we doing to our children? Chap. 1. A virus of violence -- Chap. 2. Desensitization and Pavlov's dog at the movies -- Chap. 3. B.F. Skinner's rats and operant conditioning at the video arcade -- Chap. 4. Social learning and role models in the media -- Chap. 5. The resensitization of America.

Subject Added Entry - Topical Term
   - Topical term or geographic name entry element: Combat
   - Topical term or geographic name entry element: Homicide
   - Topical term or geographic name entry element: Psychology, Military.
   - Topical term or geographic name entry element: Violence
   - General subdivision: Psychological aspects.
   - General subdivision: Social aspects.