An edition of Blood rites (1997)

Blood rites

origins and history of the passions of war

1st Owl Book ed.
  • 9 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read
Blood rites
Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbara Eh ...
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Last edited by ImportBot
December 10, 2022 | History
An edition of Blood rites (1997)

Blood rites

origins and history of the passions of war

1st Owl Book ed.
  • 9 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

In Blood Rites, renowned social critic Barbara Ehrenreich confronts a subject that has challenged thinkers from Homer to Freud: What draws our species to war and even makes us see it as a kind of sacred undertaking? Ehrenreich takes us on an original journey from the grasslands of prehistoric Africa to the trenches of Verdun, from the spectacular human sacrifices of precolonial Central America to the carnage and holocaust of twentieth-century "total war.".

Sifting through the fragile records of prehistory, Ehrenreich discovers the wellspring of war in an unexpected place - not in a "killer instinct" unique to the males of our species, nor in our Paleolithic hunting tradition, but in the blood rites early humans performed to reenact their terrifying experience of predation by stronger carnivores. It is in these ancient blood rites that Ehrenreich finds the first form of organized, socially sanctioned violence - and the spiritual antecedent of war.

Moving into historical time, Ehrenreich traces the evolution of war from the sacred undertaking of a privileged warrior caste to the central rite of the mass religion we know today as nationalism and shows the persistence of ancient fears in the most modern rituals and passions of war.

Publish Date
Publisher
Henry Holt
Language
English
Pages
292

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Blood rites
Blood rites
7 April 2011, Granta Books, Granta Books (UK)
Cover of: Blutrituale
Blutrituale: Ursprung und Geschichte der Lust am Krieg
1999, Rowohlt
Paperback in German
Cover of: Blood rites
Blood rites: origins and history of the passions of war
1998, Henry Holt
in English - 1st Owl Book ed.
Cover of: Blood Rites
Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War
May 15, 1998, Holt Paperbacks
Paperback in English
Cover of: Blood Rites
Blood Rites
October 1, 1998, Virago Press Ltd, Time Warner Books Uk
Paperback - New Ed edition
Cover of: Blood rites
Blood rites: origins and history of the passions of war
1997, Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt & Co.
in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Blood rites
Blood rites: origins and history of the passions of war
1997, Virago
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Originally published: New York : Metropolitan Books, 1997.

"An Owl book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-280) and index.

Published in
New York

The Physical Object

Pagination
x, 292 p. ;
Number of pages
292

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL22931044M
ISBN 10
0805057870
Library Thing
63710
Amazon ID (ASIN)
Goodreads
24451

Excerpts

Although it is true that aggressive impulses, up to and including murderous rage, can easily take over in the heat of actual battle, even this statement must be qualified to take account of different weaponry and modes of fighting.
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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
December 10, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 27, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 19, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
February 12, 2009 Created by ImportBot Imported from San Francisco Public Library record