The Cambridge World History of Violence

Third volume of the first world history of violence, providing original and authoritative contributions on a universal theme in history.

Violence is a universal theme in human history and a major problem facing society today. In order to confront it, it is essential that we understand it. This volume shows how many of the problems that the world faces today are rooted in the first age of globalisation: the period between 1500 and 1800.In the period from 1500 to 1800 the problem of violence necessitated asking fundamental questions and formulating answers about the most basic forms of human organisation and interactions. Violence spoke to critical issues such as the problem of civility in society, the nature of political sovereignty and the power of the state, the legitimacy of conquest and subjugation, the possibilities of popular resistance, and the manifestations of ethnic and racial unrest. It also provided the raw material for profound meditations on humanity and for examining our relationship to the divine and natural worlds. The third volume of The Cambridge World History of Violence examines a world in which global empires were consolidated and expanded, and in which civilisations for the first time linked to each other by trans-oceanic contacts and a sophisticated world trade system.