The proliferation of violence is arguably one of the most crucial topics of concern in an era of ethnic wars on one hand, and cultural debates about what constitutes violence in arenas of pornography, nationalism, race relations, the media, even environmental issues on the other.

Introduction; M.B.Steger & N.S.Lind SECTION 1: VIOLENCE: DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS Excerpt from On Violence ; H.Arendt On Violence; R.P.Wolff The Idea of Violence; C.A.J.Coady Cultural Violence; J.Galtung Violence and the Perspective of Morality; R.L.Holmes SECTION 2: VIOLENCE AND LAW Critique of Violence; W.Benjamin Excerpt from Discipline and Punish ; M.Foucault Excerpt from Force of Law: The Mystical Foundation of Authority ; J.Derrida The Force of Law: Metaphysical or Political; N.Fraser Is Violent Speech a Right?; C.R.Sunstein SECTION 3: VIOLENCE AND GENDER, GENDER AND SEXUALITY Masculinity, Violence, and Domination; N.C.M.Hartsock Violence, Gender, and Social Change; C.Alder Violence in Lesbian and Gay Relationships; C.M.Renzetti Pornography and Grief; A.Dworkin Andrea Dworkin's Reconstruction of Pornography as a Discriminatory Social Practice; C.Jenefsky The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars; R.Seifert SECTION 4: VIOLENCE AND RACE Excerpt from The Wretched of the Earth ; F.Fanon Excerpt from The Ballot or the Bullet ; Malcolm X On Violence; D.Nicholson Nihilism in Black America; C.West Violence, Resistance, and the Struggle for Black Empowerment; M.Marable Indigenous Peoples, Racism and the Environment; R.Barsh SECTION 5: VIOLENCE AND NATIONALISM The New Nationalism in Europe; M.Kaldor Pro Patria Mori! Death and the State; Y.Tamir Patriotism and its Futures; A.Appadurai 'Ethnic Cleansing': A Metaphor for our Time?; A.S.Ahmed SECTION 6: VIOLENCE AND CLASS Excerpt from Reflections on Violence ; G.Sorel Liberation from the Affluent Society; H.Marcuse Legality and Illegality; G.Lukacs An Autopsy of Marxist Socialism; M.B.Steger SECTION 7: NONVIOLENCE ALTERNATIVES Excerpts from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi ; M.K.Gandhi Excerpt from Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience ; M.L.King JR . Beloved Community: A World Without Racism - Bell Hooks Freedom From Fear; A.S.S.Kyi Beyond Just War and Pacifism; G.Sharp Untangling the Web of Violence; J.Turpin & L.R.Kurtz Bibliography