Extremely Violent Societies: Mass Violence in the Twentieth-Century World. By Christian Gerlach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, xi plus 489 pp.)

Abstract

Indonesia, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Germany were extremely violent in the twentieth century. They were not alone. Christian Gerlach has properly noted that, speaking about Greece specifically, there is currently no account of the “violent acts over six decades in relation to each other or a single process … as well for other societies such histories remain to be written” (252). It is indeed indispensible to welcome the effort to understand human violence in its societal expression and in its relation to the formation, establishment and consolidation of political narratives. States, as we know them, unfortunately encounter the temptation to use violence instrumentally—especially in the twentieth century. Coalitions are formed, many participate in taking advantage of the redistribution of power, access and resources, elites struggle for control and when these strategies are actualized in specific territories, they determine the fate of millions of victims. The great merit of Gerlach's very well researched book is to set the tone for this effort to link social history to political development through an accurate appreciation of actual cases.