Genocide is a topic beset by ambiguities over meaning and double standards. In this stimulating and gripping history, William Rubinstein sets out to clarify the meaning of the term genocide and its historical evolution, and provides a working definition that informs the rest of the book. He makes the important argument that each instance of genocide is best understood within a particular historical framework and provides an original chronology of these distinct frameworks. In the final part of the book he critically examines a number of alleged past and recent genocides: from native Americans, slavery, the Irish famine, homosexuals and gypsies in the Nazi concentration camps, Yugoslavia, Rwanda through to the claims of pro-lifers and anti-abortionists.
By:
William D. Rubinstein
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781138149427
ISBN 10: 113814942X
Pages: 330
Publication Date: 13 September 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
1. Genocide in History. 2. Genocide in Pre-Modern Societies. 3. Genocide in the Colonial Age, 1492-1914. 3. Genocide in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914-79. 5. Genocide in the Era of Ethnic Cleansing and Third World Dictators, 1945-2000. 6. Outlawing Genocide and the Lessons of History. Appendix: The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Index.
William D. Rubinstein is at the University of Aberystwyth and has written The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved More Jews from the Nazis (Routledge, 1997).
