Volume I offers an introductory survey of the phenomenon of genocide. The first five chapters examine its major recurring themes, while the further nineteen are specific case studies. The combination of thematic and empirical approaches illuminates the origins and long history of genocide, its causes, consistent characteristics, and the connections linking various cases from earliest times to the early modern era. The themes examined include the roles of racism, the state, religion, gender prejudice, famine, and climate crises, as well as the role of human decision-making in the causation of genocide. The case studies cover events on four continents, ranging from prehistoric Europe and the Andes to ancient Israel, Mesopotamia, the early Greek world, Rome, Carthage, and the Mediterranean. It continues with the Norman Conquest of England's North, the Crusades, the Mongol Conquests, medieval India and Viet Nam, and a panoramic study of pre-modern China, as well as the Spanish conquests of the Canary Islands, the Caribbean, and Mexico.
List of illustrations; List of maps; List of tables; Contributors; Acknowledgements; General editor's introduction to the series: Genocide. Its causes, components, connections and continuing challenges Ben Kiernan; Introduction to volume I T. M. Lemos, Tristan S. Taylor and Ben Kiernan; Part I. Themes of Genocide through History: 1. Genocide before the state? Helle Vandkilde; 2. The religion-genocide nexus Steven L. Jacobs; 3. Genocide and gender: dynamics and consequences Adam Jones and Wendy Lower; 4. Genocide, starvation and famine Bridget Conley and Alex de Waal; 5. Climate, violence and ethnic conflict in the ancient world Francis Ludlow, Chris Morris and Conor Kostick; Part II. The Ancient World: 6. Genocide in ancient Israelite and early Jewish sources T. M. Lemos; 7. Genocide in ancient Mesopotamia during the Bronze and Iron Ages T. M. Lemos and Seth Richardson; 8. Urbicide in the Ancient Greek world, 480–330 BCE Paul Cartledge; 9. Violence, emotions and justice in the Hellenistic period Michael Champion; 10. A tale of three cities: the Roman destruction of Carthage, Corinth and Numantia Tristan S. Taylor; 11. Caesar's Gallic genocide: a case study in ancient mass violence Tristan S. Taylor; 12. Genocidal perspectives in the Roman Empire's approach towards the Jews Gil Gambash; 13. Religious violence in the later Roman Empire: the Tetrarchic persecutions, 302–313 CE Carl J. Rice; 14. Genocide, extermination and mass killing in Chinese history Victoria Tin-bor Hui; Part III. The Medieval World and Early Imperial Expansions: 15. William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, 1069–70: What, if not genocide? C. P. Lewis; 16. Genocidal massacres of Jews in Medieval Western Europe (1096–1392) Maya Soifer Irish; 17. Crusaders and mass killing at Jerusalem in 1099 Thomas A. Fudge; 18. The Albigensian Crusade and the early inquisitions into heretical depravity, 1208–1246 Mark Gregory Pegg; 19. Mongol genocides of the thirteenth century Timothy May; 20. Việt Nam and the genocide of Champa, 1470–1509 George Dutton; 21. Genocidal massacres in Medieval India Raziuddin Aquil; 22. Mass extermination in prehistoric Andean South America Danielle Kurin; 23. The Spanish destruction of the Canary Islands: a template for the Caribbean genocide Igor Pérez Tostado; 24. Genocidal massacres in the Spanish conquest of the Americas: Xaragua, Cholula, and Toxcatl (1503–1519) Harald E. Braun; Index.
Ben Kiernan is the Griswold Professor of History at Yale University and founding Director of Yale's Genocide Studies Program. His book Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (2007) has won numerous prizes, including a gold medal for the best work of history, awarded by the Independent Publishers Association. T. M. Lemos is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Huron University College and a member of the graduate school faculty and the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction at the University of Western Ontario. Tristan S. Taylor is Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of New England. He was a Visiting Fellow in Genocide Studies in the Yale University Genocide Studies Program in 2013–14 and was awarded a UNE Partnerships Grant for his work on comparative genocide studies in the Roman world. Ben Kiernan is the Griswold Professor of History at Yale University and founding Director of Yale's Genocide Studies Program. His book Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (2007) has won numerous prizes, including a gold medal for the best work of history, awarded by the Independent Publishers Association.
