Trained to Kill

Trained to Kill PDF Author: Theodore Nadelson
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421400561
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
In two decades of clinical work with Vietnam veterans, psychiatrist Theodore Nadelson sought to understand a seeming paradox about his patients: even veterans being treated for post traumatic stress disorder often still felt attracted to the danger and violence of combat and killing. How this could be possible became a central focus of Nadelson's work and thought, as he looked to veterans' stories and within himself for pieces of the human puzzle. This compelling book is the result of that exploration. In it, Nadelson confronts a dark side of human psychology with sensitivity and depth, revealing startling truths about the allure of violence. Among the topics he addresses are the ways in which the concept of war shapes boys' lives from an early age, what happens when killing becomes a job, and how memories of the thrill of combat affect a soldier after the war is over. He probes the aftermath of September 11, including the historic implications of women's experience in the military. A veteran himself, the author weaves together insights from his own clinical and military experience and from the moving narratives of former soldiers with his thoughtful analysis of readings from world literature to answer tough questions: What does our attraction to killing mean for the future of war and civilization? What implications does it have for the way we understand peacetime violence in our society?

Trained to Kill

Trained to Kill PDF Author: Theodore Nadelson
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421400561
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Get Book Here

Book Description
In two decades of clinical work with Vietnam veterans, psychiatrist Theodore Nadelson sought to understand a seeming paradox about his patients: even veterans being treated for post traumatic stress disorder often still felt attracted to the danger and violence of combat and killing. How this could be possible became a central focus of Nadelson's work and thought, as he looked to veterans' stories and within himself for pieces of the human puzzle. This compelling book is the result of that exploration. In it, Nadelson confronts a dark side of human psychology with sensitivity and depth, revealing startling truths about the allure of violence. Among the topics he addresses are the ways in which the concept of war shapes boys' lives from an early age, what happens when killing becomes a job, and how memories of the thrill of combat affect a soldier after the war is over. He probes the aftermath of September 11, including the historic implications of women's experience in the military. A veteran himself, the author weaves together insights from his own clinical and military experience and from the moving narratives of former soldiers with his thoughtful analysis of readings from world literature to answer tough questions: What does our attraction to killing mean for the future of war and civilization? What implications does it have for the way we understand peacetime violence in our society?

Trained to Kill

Trained to Kill PDF Author: Antonio Veciana
Publisher: Skyhorse
ISBN: 1510713573
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Antonio Veciana fought on the front lines of the CIA’s decades-long secret war to destroy Fidel Castro, the bearded bogeyman who haunted America’s Cold War dreams. It was a time of swirling intrigue, involving US spies with license to kill, Mafia hit men, ruthless Cuban exiles—and the leaders in the crosshairs of all this dark plotting, Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy. Veciana transformed himself from an asthmatic banker to a bomb-making mastermind who headed terrorist attacks in Havana and assassination attempts against Castro, while building one of the era’s most feared paramilitary groups—all under the direction of the CIA. In the end, Veciana became a threat—not just to Castro, but also to his CIA handler. Veciana was the man who knew too much. Suddenly he found himself a target—framed and sent to prison, and later shot in the head and left to die on a Miami street. When he was called before a Congressional committee investigating the Kennedy assassination, Veciana held back, fearful of the consequences. He didn’t reveal the identity of the CIA officer who directed him—the same agent Veciana observed meeting with Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas before the killing of JFK. Now, for the first time, Veciana tells all, detailing his role in the intricate game of thrones that aimed to topple world leaders and change the course of history. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

On Killing

On Killing PDF Author: Dave Grossman
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1497629209
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
A controversial psychological examination of how soldiers’ willingness to kill has been encouraged and exploited to the detriment of contemporary civilian society. Psychologist and US Army Ranger Dave Grossman writes that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to pull the trigger in battle. Unfortunately, modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. The mental cost for members of the military, as witnessed by the increase in post-traumatic stress, is devastating. The sociological cost for the rest of us is even worse: Contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army’s conditioning techniques and, Grossman argues, is responsible for the rising rate of murder and violence, especially among the young. Drawing from interviews, personal accounts, and academic studies, On Killing is an important look at the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects the soldier, and of the societal implications of escalating violence.

Kill Anything That Moves

Kill Anything That Moves PDF Author: Nick Turse
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0805086919
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Based on classified documents and interviews, argues that American acts of violence against millions of Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War were a pervasive and systematic part of the war.

Generation Kill

Generation Kill PDF Author: Evan Wright
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101207612
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Based on Evan Wright's National Magazine Award-winning story in Rolling Stone, this is the raw, firsthand account of the 2003 Iraq invasion that inspired the HBO® original mini-series. Within hours of 9/11, America’s war on terrorism fell to those like the twenty-three Marines of the First Recon Battalion, the first generation dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam. They were a new pop-culture breed of American warrior unrecognizable to their forebears—soldiers raised on hip hop, video games and The Real World. Cocky, brave, headstrong, wary and mostly unprepared for the physical, emotional and moral horrors ahead, the “First Suicide Battalion” would spearhead the blitzkrieg on Iraq, and fight against the hardest resistance Saddam had to offer. Hailed as “one of the best books to come out of the Iraq war”(Financial Times), Generation Kill is the funny, frightening, and profane firsthand account of these remarkable men, of the personal toll of victory, and of the randomness, brutality and camaraderie of a new American War.

Justified?

Justified? PDF Author: Nadine Andrea Forbes
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595262341
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
"Be All That You Can Be!" but at what cost?Behind the guarded gates of the U.S. military is an institution riddled with abuse of power. Justified? is a first-person look into military life. It traces a path of shame from civilian to recruit, to the transformation into a soldier; where training deteriorates into injustice; where the recruit has no support and sadly, no voice. This unfamiliar and gut wrenching story is not unique, but rather is the grave reality of how civilians newly entering the military are broken and how soldiers are made. A soldier must defend this country and its interests. A soldier must obey orders without question. A soldier must be able to resist the enemy and survive under the most difficult of conditions. Furthermore, a soldier must never leave a post unguarded or unprotected, and ultimately a soldier must be able to kill, and kill on command. In the military, a fine line is walked daily between intensity of training and torture of recruits; torture as defined by this government as "any act that inflicts severe pain or suffering, physical or mental". But, what does it take to mold the perfect soldier who is obedient, strong, and a killing machine? In order to attain the soldier's primary goals of marksmanship, resiliency and fitness, are beatings, sleep and sensory deprivations, sexual assaults, and humiliating directives all necessary or justifiable? Justified? leads you through real events and real emotions from a female recruit's perspective. It takes the reader back to the underlying reasons of why the author originally became infatuated with a military career; back to her then seemingly unwavering passion. Both author and reader begin negotiating through the physical and even more emotionally painful process of indoctrination. At the end, the question is asked

Zarat

Zarat PDF Author: Stephan Pacheco
Publisher: Stephan Pacheco
ISBN: 0977124347
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
In 1995, the state of Nevada perpetrated mass arrests propelled by false evidence, to forward the political goals of many under the banner of the District Attorney's office. Lives were stolen for the sake of power and to propel the dark sensation of righteousness that makes a government official feel like they are doing their job.

Battlefield America

Battlefield America PDF Author: John W. Whitehead
Publisher: SelectBooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1590793153
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
Police forces across the United States have been transformed into extensions of the military. Our towns and cities have become battlefields, and we the American people are now the enemy combatants to be spied on, tracked, frisked, and searched. For those who resist, the consequences can be a one-way trip to jail, or even death. Battlefield America: The War on the American People is constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead’s terrifying portrait of a nation at war with itself. In exchange for safe schools and lower crime rates, we have opened the doors to militarized police, zero tolerance policies in schools, and SWAT team raids. The insidious shift was so subtle that most of us had no idea it was happening. This follow-up to Whitehead’s award-winning A Government of Wolves, is a brutal critique of an America on the verge of destroying the very freedoms that define it. Hands up!—the police state has arrived.

Stop Teaching Our Kids To Kill, Revised and Updated Edition

Stop Teaching Our Kids To Kill, Revised and Updated Edition PDF Author: Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0804139350
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Completely revised and updated, a much-needed call to action for every parent, teacher, and citizen to help our children and stop the wave of killing and violence gripping America's youth Newtown, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Columbine. Thereis no bigger or more important issue in America than youth violence. Kids, some as young as ten years old, take up arms with the intention to murder. Why is this happening? Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria DeGaetano believe the root cause is the steady diet of violent entertainment kids see on TV, in movies, and in the video games they play—witnessing hundreds of violent images a day. Offering incontrovertible evidence based on recent scientific studies and research, they posit that this media is not just conditioning children to be violent and see killing as acceptable but teaching them the mechanics of killing as well. Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill supplies the statistics, interprets the copious research that exists on the subject, and suggests the many ways to make a difference in your home, at school, in your community, in the courts, and in the larger world. In using this book, parents, educators, social-service workers, youth advocates, and anyone interested in the welfare of our children will have a solid foundation for effective action and prevention of future Columbines, Jonesboros, and Newtowns.

Rise of the Warrior Cop

Rise of the Warrior Cop PDF Author: Radley Balko
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610392124
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Now updated with new material, the groundbreaking history of how police forces have become militarized, both in equipment and mindset, and what that means for American democracy. The last days of colonialism taught America's revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement. But according to investigative reporter Radley Balko, over the last several decades, America's cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as an other-an enemy. Today's armored-up policemen are a far cry from the constables of early America. The unrest of the 1960s brought about the invention of the SWAT unit-which in turn led to the debut of military tactics in the ranks of police officers. Nixon's War on Drugs, Reagan's War on Poverty, Clinton's COPS program, the post-9/11 security state under Bush, Obama: by degrees, each of these innovations empowered police forces, always at the expense of civil liberties. And under Trump, these powers were expanded in terrifying new ways, as evidenced by the tanks and overwhelming force that met the Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020. In Rise of the Warrior Cop, Balko shows how politicians' ill-considered policies and relentless declarations of war against vague enemies like crime, drugs, and terror have blurred the distinction between cop and soldier. His fascinating, frightening narrative shows how over a generation, a creeping battlefield mentality has isolated and alienated American police officers and put them on a collision course with the values of a free society.