About this title: A philosophical inquiry into the origins and motivation of war. Ehrenreich, a biologist at Rockefeller University, considers the urge to war to be rooted in primitive drives toward blood sacrifice and hunting.
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Description: Fair. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Edition: First Edition, 1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Metropolitan Books, New York
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Good in Very Good jacket. 0805050779 x + 292 pp, acknowledgments, foreword, 2 parts / 14 chapters, notes, bibliography, index. Previous owner has underlined sentences or phrases, and made a few notes in margin. externally, near fine. 6.1" x 9.25" black & red papered boards in black DJ (20 oz) read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780805057874ISBN:0805057870
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Moderate wear on Cover/Interior Pages. (W3) Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 256 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Binding: Board
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Very Good+ in Very Good+ jacket. This is a red & black hard back History / Sociology book omn the nature of war. "...Barbara Ehrenreich confronts a subject that has challenged thinkers from Homer to Freud: What draws our species to war and even makes us see it as a kind of sacred undertaking? " from the jacket. This is a very clean & bright book. The condition is Very Good+, and the Jacket is also Very Good+. c1997, 1st edition, 1st printing. This book has tight & white pages which are also ... read more
Edition: Trade Paper Stated First
Binding: Softcover--Very Good
Publisher: Metropolitan Books / Holt, New York
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805057874ISBN:0805057870
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Trade Paper History History: An examination of why human beings go to war. In an excellent trade paperback edition. read more
Edition: Advance Reading Copy. Stated first with full numberline.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Advanced Reading Copy. First edition. Softcover. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 292 p. Audience: General/trade. NF condition copy of May 1997 Advanced Readers Copy. Unmarked. Table of Contents not yet paginated. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Date Published: 1998-05-15
ISBN-13:9780805057874ISBN:0805057870
Description: New. In Blood Rites, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the mystery of the human attraction to violence: What draws our species to war and even makes us see it as a kind of sacred undertaking? Blood Rites takes us on an original journey from the elaborate human sacrifices of the ancient world to the carnage and holocaust of twentieth-century "total war. " Sifting through the fragile records of prehistory, Ehrenreich discovers the wellspring of war in an unexpected place--not in a "killer instinct" ... read more
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Binding: Board on Board
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Near Fine+ in Near Fine+ jacket. This is a black & red cover hard back book looking into the human attraction to violence. The condition is Near Fine+ with a Near Fine+ jacket. First Edition, First Printing. This is a very solid and tight book. It has very good edges, corners and spine ends. The pages are bright, clean & unmarked. No names. The jacket is also bright & clean with nice edges. 292 pages. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. An original, provocative, well-researched, and powerfully argued investigation into the passions that have led human beings to make war. Red boards, black spine with gold-color lettering, 292 pp., illustrated jacket in mylar cover. Excellent condition. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780805057874ISBN:0805057870
Description: As New. No Jacket as Issued. No discernable flaws to this copy. Ehrenreich's examination of the mystery of the human attraction to violence. read more
Description: Very good. Publishers Overstock. A Very Good copy with a Remainder Mark and wear to the extremities. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 30 years of combined bookselling experience. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805057874ISBN:0805057870
Description: Near Fine. History. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. What draws our species to war and even makes us see it as a kind of sacred undertaking? Sifting through the fragile records of prehistory, Ehrenreich discovers the wellspring of war in an unexpected place. This book is in near fine condition. There is a name and year written at the top of the first page. read more
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Very Good + in Near Fine jacket. 6.5 x 9.5 hard cover book. White and red lettering on the black dust jacket spine with a color illustrated cover. Brilliant in conception, rich in detail, epic in scope, Blood Rites is a monumental work that will transform our understanding of the archaic practice that has become the greatest single threat to human life. 292 pages. 1st Edition. Few pages with light underlining. Marker on foredge. Tight binding. Very Good +/Near Fine condition. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. First Edition. first edition ex-library hardcover, tight binding and clean text; jacket in mylar. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Front edge thumbed. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, New York
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780805050776ISBN:0805050779
Description: Very Good in Fine jacket. 8vo. Quarter bound in black cloth. Green marker stripe along upper page edges, else a fine, crisp, clean copy. 292 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. Dust jacket in new mylar cover. read more
Ehrenreich is attempting here (or so it seems) to walk the thin line between academic rigor and readability; she has not succeeded in the latter, and, as a self-described amateur, she undoubtedly has also fallen shot of the former. It's a shame, really. Ehrenreich can be an insightful and clever commentator, but by attempting to please both audiences, she has created a dull read.
Part of the problem here may be that she has only one basic premise, and has attempted to flesh out this single idea to book length. Let me save you the trouble:
The premise of this book is that we go to war and participate in other bloody rituals primarily to act out the legacy of a time when we had to be aggressive to avoid being eaten by predators. After all (her thinking goes) only those of our ancestors most prone to violence (and perhaps foolhardiness) in the face of, say, a sabertooth tiger attack would have live to pass their genes on to us. The rest of the book is either a recapitulation or illustration of this theme.
Which is not to say she doesn't make some other fascinating arguments. One which particularly struck me was that men are the fighters of our species not because of superior strength, but because they are essentially disposable. Reproductively, a male's contribution is negligible, the matter of a few moments. She also points out that the difference in strength between men and women would have been entirely meaningless when faced with the attack of a predator of far greater strength than either.
Ehrenreich details, too, how we have made war sacred, a secular religion propped up by quasi-religious rituals and traditions such as those underlying July 4th or Memorial Day.
Perhaps I am spoiled, and want all my reading to be entertaining as well as informative (eg, Omnivore's Dilemma or Maps and Legends). I did not find this book to be much of either."
"I read this for a class in college title "The History of Greek Warfare". This book not only shed light on commonly placed myths about warfare of our ancestors, it gave me a new perspective on how we have come to fight our wars today. I would highly recommended reading this book for a different insight to the history of war."
"This is a fascinating and tremendously ambitious exploration of the origins of war. I read it almost 10 years ago and it's still with me. Ehrenreich draws on biology, anthropology, and theology (among other -ologies) in her efforts to understand the complicated nature of the subject. This is an oversimplification of her astonishingly creative theory, but she traces the roots of religion and war back to the same thing: the human experience of being prey. Our religious rituals began as a reenactment and celebration of our triumphant transformation from prey to predators. The blood rites became sacred. These rituals have the same origin, whether they involve animal sacrifice or a symbolic sacrifice like that of Jesus Christ. She argues that modern warfare stems from the latest and most sophisticated religion: nationalism. Man, this book was awesome. Don't trust my oversimplification-- just read it."
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