Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur

The introduction alone should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand historical context, and the the gap/ difference between informal, popular uses of the term -- and the difficulty in proving necessary conditions, such as intent.

Great for my continuing studies of Genocide and civil conflicts. Having been a witness, it substantiates much of what I have seen and provides additional history I was not aware of

After Hitler's mass murder of the Jews people said "Never again". It has been a futile hope so far. What is particularly chilling has been the growth of ethnic and religious mass murder since the fall of the Soviet Union was supposed to usher in a new age of the "democratic peace". Indeed, as Amy Chua has pointed out in her book World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability the "new" order of capitalism and democracy has been anything but orderly.Unfortunately, while the shelves of America's bookstores are groaning under the weight of an almost endless collection of books on the Nazi genocide, there has been little attention the larger issue of genocide in world history and the reasons for it.This book tries to fill that gap. It should be read in conjunction with Death by Government the best book on political mass murder in the last century. I also have a list of books on the subject of political terror and mass murder in the lists section of my Amazon profile.This book is higly relevant because the incentives for genocide in the next 100 years are going to be far greater than in the past. Rising world populations and global warming are going to create a greater and more brutal competition for food and resources. Rwanda, for example, was one of the most densely populated nations in Africa.In 1945 people hoped books like this would only be about the past. Today we hope they will only concern the recent present and the past. However, this book is grim warning about what is likely to happen if our world does not deal effectively with problems like climate change and global poverty. Let's hope nobody will have to write a book about the genocide in our future 50 years form now. Reading this book might give us some ideas of how to prevent a new wave of crimes and horrors.

A history of mans inhumanity to man. Particularly relevant these days.

Ben Kiernan’s Blood and Soil is a difficult read because of the subject matter. The idea of brutality on the scale of which Kiernan describes can be difficult for the average person to wrap their head around. After a while, the six hundred plus pages of Blood and Soil blur together painting a rather depressing picture of humanity.Kiernan’s thesis is not hard in a nutshell in that a toxic soup of romanticized past glories (usually associated with agriculture or land) that have now been lost due to incompetence of current leaders or more often the presence of another group. When this is mixed together, mass extermination can result. While oftentimes, the intention required by modern genocide convention is not met, the result is largely the same.While one can always quibble over case selection, Blood and Soil is a book that although lengthy and time consuming, everyone who cares about humanity in general should read.

The Kiernan book 'Blood and Soil' Arrived.Thank you.

This book is simply excellent, never mind the overly academic critiques. Kiernan has brought together a tremendous amount of historical data spanning ancient Greece to modern times in one book, and writes in such an eloquent and unbiased style that I found myself reading vast amounts in one sitting. A supurb and comprehensive treatise !

Blood and Soil is a conventional book about Genocide. It is conventional from standpoint that the villains would easily fit into the world view of Bono or Hillary Clinton. In other words, the villains are Romans, American frontiersmen, Germans, etc. The suite of official approved demons in the Official Religion According to the United Nations, nothing is mentioned about Israel's ongoing operations in Palestine, or for that matter, their past operations in Canaan. Nothing about the Bantu expansion against the Bushmen, nothing about the Sinhalese war against the Tamils.Perhaps though, genocide is more common than we wish to believe and it is best to focus on the known genocides to make one's point.The most interesting insight is when the author, Ben Kiernan argues that there are always warning signs prior to a genocide. There is territorial expansion, a deep interest in racial/religious matters that involves prejudice, concern for agricultural matters, and finally a cult like adoration of antiquity.While this appears to be a major sociological discovery, this reviewer remained un-convinced, don't all societies concern themselves with agriculture? Did the Farm Aid situation in the 1980s cause genocide in America?The book also fails to take into account why particular groups are often specifically targeted for genocide. Rome destroyed Carthage, but didn't destroy the Phoenicians in their homeland although they took that area into their Empire. The Soviets targeted Ukrainian Kulaks but not Siberians.In sum, the book brings some light, but unsatisfactory light to a very dark subject.