Violence: A Very Short Introduction

Violence is part and parcel of human history and of human nature. It is one of our most distinctive traits, the one thing that all cultures and societies, across time, share in common. It has defined not only the ways in which individuals relate to each other, but also how collective entities and states have interacted with each other over the millennia. All societies are violent and all individuals have the capacity for violence. However, not all societies and not all individuals are equally violent, and nor does violence exist with the same intensity across cultures. This Very Short Introduction examines the more visible, physical acts of violence--interpersonal, gendered, collective, religious, sexual, criminal, and political--in the modern world. It explores how violence in the pre-modern world was different from the modern world, and what is significant about those differences. It also discusses what violence is by examining understandings of the ideas, values, and cultural practices embedded in an act of violence, and considering acts of violence as the outcome of a process dependent on the cultural context in which they take place. Along the way Dwyer considers some core questions, asking whether violence is always 'bad', and if there are any limits to human violence? And, are we becoming more or less violent?

About the Author :
Philip Dwyer is professor of history and the founding director of the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of Newcastle. He has published widely on the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, including a three-volume biography of Napoleon. He is the general editor of the four volume Cambridge World History of Violence, and coeditor of the Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars. He is currently engaged in writing a global history of violence, as well as a history of iconoclasm. Gary Paul Williams is a deep British voice-over actor who has been behind the mic for over forty years, first exploring broadcasting back in the '70s on a school radio station, in the days of reel to reel players and editing tape. He then moved into commercial radio as a breakfast show host for a large network in the UK. Radio is very different from audiobook creation, and Gary quickly discovered that unlike his previous experience stamina is required because bookwork is not a sprint but a marathon. To develop the skills required he has had a vast amount of paid training and coaching but most importantly a full life packed with emotional events, both exciting and challenging. This has really given him an edge, with the ability to pull up any script and relate to the motivation, emotion, and direction that is needed. At the same time he understands the importance of meeting tight deadlines and high-quality standards, and has the ability to take direction as and when required. So far Gary has produced work for Bookstream, an audiobook company in Vienna, producing over twenty books while still picking up other work on pay-to-pay sites. With Bookstream the work was mostly on the darker side (mystical and scary), and a lot of the books were classics such as works by Sherlock Holmes and H. G. Wells. Finally, Gary appreciates that authors spend a great deal of time and energy giving birth to a book and a voice actor needs to reflect that commitment.