This book offers a fascinating and insightful overview of seven
centuries of murder in Europe. It tells the story of the changing
face of violence and documents the long-term decline in the
incidence of homicide. From medieval vendettas to stylised duels,
from the crime passionel of the modern period right up to recent
public anxieties about serial killings and underworld
assassinations, the book offers a richly illustrated account of
murder's metamorphoses.
In this original and compelling contribution, Spierenburg sheds
new light on several important themes. He looks, for example, at
the transformation of homicide from a private matter, followed by
revenge or reconciliation, into a public crime, always subject to
state intervention. Combining statistical data with a cultural
approach, he demonstrates the crucial role gender played in the
spiritualisation of male honour and the subsequent reduction of
male-on-male aggression, as well as offering a comparative view of
how different social classes practised and reacted to violence.
This authoritative study will be of great value to students and
scholars of the history of crime and violence, criminology and the
sociology of violence. At a time when murder rates are rising and
public fears about violent crime are escalating, this book will
also interest the general reader intrigued by how our relationship
with murder reached this point.
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