A Terrible Love of War
by James Hillman
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Book Summary Information
Author: James HillmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-02-22
ISBN: 0143034928
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of A Terrible Love of War
Book Review: A terrible love of war
Summary: 3 Stars
While in many ways this is an excellent book and a good read, it is also deeply flawed. The greatest flaw in the book is the last chapter, where Hillman goes on a rant against monotheism, particularly Christian monotheism in America, as if only monotheists have the bloodlust for war. Defending myth (polytheism) versus religion (monotheism), Hillman asks, "can one march off to war in the name of a story [myth]?" Contrary to Hillman's bent for polytheism, the Greeks did quite an excellent job of slaughtering one another during the Peloponnesian Wars, and they didn't have guns either. Hillman uses a moral equivalency argument of sorts, between Christianity and Islam, and actually states that Christian monotheism in America is the greater danger to peace when he writes, "it is Christian monotheistic psychology that is the one for our culture to focus on and fear." This seems to me to be a complete denial of the facts in the 21st Century. While indeed, Iraq may be an ill advised war, I haven't heard of any Christian suicide bombers of late, and to my knowledge, I'm unaware of any Christians or Jews who have advocated wiping Islam off the face of the earth. Christianity in the West has been chastened by the Enlightenment and over two hundred years of reason, science, and religious tolerance (not all at once or in one place, but an ongoing progression). As Ayaan Hirsi Ali has stated, Islam has yet to go through an Age of Enlightenment. The problem with Hillman's position is that he appears to by saying that if America just deals with the fanaticism of Christian fundamentalism, Islamic jihad will just go away. But as he quotes Jeremy Black "The techniques of diplomatic management can help some crises, but others reflect a willingness, sometimes desire, to kill and be killed that cannot be ignored." It may just be a fact that the jihadists hate us, America and the West, and they want to kill us, whether we're Christian monotheists or Jungian analysts, just because we're not them; we're infidels.
Summary of A Terrible Love of War
War is a timeless force in the human imagination-and, indeed, in daily life. Engaged in the activity of destruction, its soldiers and its victims discover a paradoxical yet profound sense of existing, of being human. In A Terrible Love of War, James Hillman, one of today's most respected psychologists, undertakes a groundbreaking examination of the essence of war, its psychological origins and inhuman behaviors. Utilizing reports from many fronts and times, letters from combatants, analyses by military authorities, classic myths, and writings from great thinkers, including Twain, Tolstoy, Kant, Arendt, Foucault, and Levinas, Hillman's broad sweep and detailed research bring a fundamentally new understanding to humanity's simultaneous attraction and aversion to war. This is a compelling, necessary book in a violent world.History Books
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