Theatres of Violence

Massacres and mass killings have always marked if not shaped the history of the world and as such are subjects of increasing interest among historians, resulting in a growing body of scholarship in recent years. The premise underlying this collection is that massacres were an integral, if not accepted part (until quite recently) of warfare, and that they were often fundamental to the colonizing process in the early modern and modern worlds. Making a deliberate distinction between "massacre" and "genocide," the editors call for mass killings that are not genocidal in intent to be treated as an entirely separate and new subject under the rubric of "Massacre Studies," as delineated in this volume. It offers a reflection on the nature of mass killings and extreme violence across regions and across the centuries from ancient times to the present and brings together a wide range of approaches and case studies that will enable readers to better understand the nature of extreme violence throughout history.