Massacres and mass killings have always marked if not shaped the history of the world and as such are subjects of increasing interest among historians. The premise underlying this collection is that massacres were an integral, if not accepted part (until quite recently) of warfare, and that they were often fundamental to the colonizing process in the early modern and modern worlds. Making a deliberate distinction between 'massacre' and 'genocide', the editors call for an entirely separate and new subject under the rubric of 'Massacre Studies', dealing with mass killings that are not genocidal in intent. This volume offers a reflection on the nature of mass killings and extreme violence across regions and across centuries, and brings together a wide range of approaches and case studies.

... A] milestone on the path toward a more sophisticated analysis of a key feature of human cruelty... This volume's] goal is exploration and inspiration of further research in, and discussion of, the history of massacres... It] does an excellent job in doing exactly this, and I am sure it will serve for a long time as a major reference book in the broader field of mass violence studies. Thomas Kuhne, Strassler Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Clark University

Massacres and mass killings have always marked if not shaped the history of the world and as such are subjects of increasing interest among historians. The premise underlying this collection is that massacres were an integral, if not accepted part (until quite recently) of warfare, and that they were often fundamental to the colonizing process in the early modern and modern worlds. Making a deliberate distinction between 'massacre' and 'genocide', the editors call for an entirely separate and new subject under the rubric of 'Massacre Studies', dealing with mass killings that are not genocidal in intent. This volume offers a reflection on the nature of mass killings and extreme violence across regions and across centuries, and brings together a wide range of approaches and case studies.

Philip G. Dwyer is Associate Professor in Modern European History at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has published widely on the revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. His monograph "Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769-1799" (2008) won the Australian National Biography Award.

Lyndall Ryan is Conjoint Professor of History at the University of Newcastle. Her classic text, "The Aboriginal Tasmanians," first published in 1981, opened up the field of colonial frontier violence in Australia. Since then she has published widely on settler massacres on the Australian colonial frontier.

On the 180th anniversary of the Myall Creek Massacre of 1838, acclaimed writers, historians, lawyers and artists explore the impact of one of the most horrifying events of Australian colonial history, showing why this event was and remains so important for Australia. The 1838 Myall Creek Massacre is remembered for the brutality of the crime committed by white settlers against innocent Aboriginal men, women and children, but also because eleven of the twelve assassins were arrested and brought to trial, one of the few cases of this kind in Australia. Amid tremendous controversy, seven were hanged. Myall Creek was not the last time the colonial administration sought to apply the law equally to Aboriginal people and settlers, but it was the last time that the perpetrators of a massacre were convicted and hanged. Marking its 180th anniversary, this book explores the significance of one of the most horrifying events of Australian colonialism. Foreword by Aunty Sue Blacklock and John Brown