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On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Kindle Edition
Psychologist and US Army Ranger Dave Grossman writes that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to pull the trigger in battle. Unfortunately, modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion.
The mental cost for members of the military, as witnessed by the increase in post-traumatic stress, is devastating. The sociological cost for the rest of us is even worse: Contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army’s conditioning techniques and, Grossman argues, is responsible for the rising rate of murder and violence, especially among the young.
Drawing from interviews, personal accounts, and academic studies, On Killing is an important look at the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects the soldier, and of the societal implications of escalating violence.
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Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, Wash.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00J90F8W2
- Publisher : Open Road Media; Revised edition (April 1, 2014)
- Publication date : April 1, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 4.2 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 431 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #149,766 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #24 in Military Science History
- #52 in Violence in Society (Kindle Store)
- #72 in Criminology (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

LT. COL. DAVE GROSSMAN, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Director, Grossman On Truth
www.GrossmanOnTruth.com
In their description of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Slate Magazine said, “Grossman cuts such a heroic, omnicompetent figure, he could have stepped out of a video game.” He has five patents to his name, has published four novels, two children’s books, and six non-fiction books to include “perennial bestsellers” such as:
-ON KILLING (translated into 7 languages, with over half a million copies sold in English, cited in scholarly works over 3,400 times)
-ON COMBAT (US Marine Corps Commandant’s Required Reading list, translated into 5 languages, a quarter-million copies sold in English, cites in scholarly works over 600 times), and
-ON SPIRITUAL COMBAT (a Christian Book Award Finalist).
He is a former buck Sergeant who came up through the ranks from Private to Lt. Colonel. He is a US Army Ranger, a paratrooper, and a former West Point Psychology Professor. He has a Black Belt in Hojutsu, the martial art of the firearm, and has been inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Col. Grossman’s research was cited by the President of the United States in a national address, and he has testified before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Congress, and numerous state legislatures. He has been to the White House on two occasions, to brief the President and the Vice President in his areas of expertise. He has served as an expert witness and consultant in state and Federal courts. And he helped train mental health professionals after the Jonesboro school massacre, and he was also involved in counseling or court cases in the aftermath of the Paducah, Springfield, Littleton and Nickel Mines Amish school massacres.
Col. Grossman has been called upon to write the entry on “Aggression and Violence” in the Oxford Companion to American Military History, three entries in the Academic Press Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict and has presented papers before the national conventions of the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Since his retirement from the US Army in 1998, he continues to be “on the road” over 200 days a year, spanning across four decades, as one of our nation’s leading trainers for military, law enforcement, mental health providers, and school safety organizations.
Through his “Bulletproof Mind Resiliency” presentations, Col. Grossman has been of service to countless thousands of military personnel, law enforcement officers, and first responders. He likes to tell his audiences that, “The Bible says, ‘Greater love has no one than this, that they give their lives for their friends.’ But there are many ways to ‘give’ your life. Sometimes the greatest love is not to sacrifice your life, but to live a life of sacrifice.”
Today Col. Grossman is the director of the Grossman On Truth (www.GrossmanOnTruth.com). In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks he is has written and spoken extensively on the terrorist threat, with articles published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Civil Policy and many leading law enforcement journals, and he has been inducted as a "Life Diplomate" by the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, and a "Life Member" of the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute.
His hobbies are jigsaw puzzles, canoeing, pistol shooting, and asking questions that no one else is asking. Like, “Why will no one talk about how it felt to kill in combat? Why do we wear neckties? And why do we mow our lawns? A hundred years from now they will say, ‘Were they all crazy? Why did they do that?’” He is a fan of the “Meadowing Movement” (something he made up completely). For all his love of poetry, he is not capable of mustering any such himself. His one bit of doggerel is:
I think that I shall never settle,
In a lawn as nice as any meadow.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find this book to be an illuminating psychological treatise on the mental aspects of killing, filled with surprising information. They describe it as a deeply fascinating read that addresses the psychological side of violence, with one customer noting its excellent insights into post-traumatic stress disorder. The book receives positive feedback for its depth and pacing.
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Customers find the book incredibly insightful, describing it as a well-researched psychological treatise that provides surprising information and helps understand the complexities of taking life.
"...The concepts and mind imagery raises the book to an intense mind fertilizer read. Read a bit and sleep on it...." Read more
"...of Grossman's thesis is supported by in-depth interviews and psychological profiles, but it is the story of the Vietnam veterans that comes across..." Read more
"This is the first book on the psychology of killing from a military point of view and, as such, it is ground-breaking and extremely important,..." Read more
"...Second, apparently, this book has become required reading at military and police academies. That makes me very happy. It also confuses me...." Read more
Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a deeply fascinating and masterful read that is important for anyone to read.
"Great book, disturbing in most senses – but gives us hope. Why is it hopeful?..." Read more
"...thought lines are anchored in massively-funded and easily externally referenced material to dispel doubt, nearly two centuries of military research,..." Read more
"...what he discusses is repetitive and disturbing, but the subject matter is so compelling that I didn't mind...." Read more
"...of killing from a military point of view and, as such, it is ground-breaking and extremely important, especially to the extent to which it pierces..." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's exploration of the psychological aspects of killing, including trauma and violence, with one customer specifically noting its excellent insight into post-traumatic stress disorder.
"...These proper and morally necessitated techniques are learned in our traditional basic training practices and at our officers training academies...." Read more
"...There is also some excellent insight into post-traumatic stress disorder...." Read more
"This is THE BOOK for understanding combat veteran trauma." Read more
"...circles, and helping the reader relate to it in a way that is real, empathetic and also pragmatic...." Read more
Customers appreciate the depth of the book, with one customer noting how it defines the desensitizing capacity, while another mentions it provides a broad view from a small book.
"...It also examines and defines the desensitizing capacity of the media and violent video games...." Read more
"Grossman is a superb author and an amazing speaker. On Killing is very in depth and allows the reader to understand what is going through the minds..." Read more
"...This book has opened new dimensions to consider, and an interest to continue to study this topic." Read more
"...he also over generalizes, just because US servicement in ww2 didnt aim at the enemy 80% of the time doesnt mean human beings arent naturally killers...." Read more
Customers find the pacing of the book very interesting, with one customer noting how it incorporates vignettes from previous works.
"...I found the nature of issuing war service medals to be very interesting, as the information on how long a soldier could survive in action before..." Read more
"...of collating and correlating observations, data and vignettes from a host of previous works (some going back thousands of years) on the subject of..." Read more
"...core difference between soldier psychology in WW2 and Vietnam was very interesting but when the author tried to point put the root source of..." Read more
"...It's worth the read. However, the reading may come out dry if you're not into this sort of thing...." Read more
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Must read for professionals treating post-combat trauma!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2017Great book, disturbing in most senses – but gives us hope.
Why is it hopeful? Because it argues that for the vast majority of humanity, killing another human is a vastly unnatural act. Societies may find a way to battle at every opportunity, but individual humans have a hard time killing another human being.
One of Dave Grossman's arguments is that – to paraphrase – ‘the recruit doesn’t want to kill, but only has 20 years of total life experience, while the army has the breadth of history on their side.’
Against this, even the most soft-spoken the recruit may turn into a killing machine. Their acts might haunt them for the rest of their lives afterwards, but in the moment – they can kill.
The recent shade of war has gotten recruits over many psychological barriers they might have.
Distance helps – the farther you are from your target, the easier it is to kill psychologically. Roman soldiers gained dominance through fighting with pikes – and today’s solders go even further back with drone fighting.
Technology helps – many battles go on at night now. In night fights, you see a green shape moving, and not a face.
Verbiage helps – The enemy is labeled the enemy, or some sort of racial epithet. The enemy is not killed, but rather hosed, zapped or fired on. If you can take away the enemy’s humanity, it helps. And Grossman notes that this is common in war. The North Vietnamese called the American’s Hairy Monkeys.
Here are some other insights Mr. Grossman had –
1) The concept of ‘courage’ should be thought of as a ‘well of fortitude’
He argues that everyone – everyone can be broken in war. Some have more fortitude, some have less. But it can and will all run out for everyone. You can refill the war with a good leader or a win, but in general, time is not on the soldier’s side. Even the bravest runs out of fortitude sooner or later.
2) Group pressure is the primary driving force behind soldiers
Most soldiers that fight do so to avoid letting their comrades down. Not the country, or an ideal – but the soldier in their troop.
If they kill, it’s often in defense of their comrades.
3) Personal involvement brings PTSD, not just action
Grossman looks at data on the bombing victims in WWII in England and also in the firebombed German cities. He looks at medics, and war reporters. He finds that the incidents of PTSD in these people is low, often non-existent.
Why? It’s not personal. There is something about the person on the other end personally trying to eliminate you that kicks of PTSD.
4) Psychopaths – the right kind of psychopaths – are enormously valuable to an army
I am paraphrasing so might have the numbers wrong – but 1% of all fighter pilots account for 40 percent of all kills. If a soldier exhibits no remorse, but can be turned into an order-following soldier – the military will put them in the right position.
5) One more quote that I’ll leave you with
'One veteran I interviewed told me that he thought of most of the world as sheep: gentle, decent, kindly creatures who are essentially incapable of true aggression. In this veteran’s mind there is another human subspecies (of which he is a member) that is a kind of dog: faithful, vigilant creatures who are very much capable of aggression when circumstances require. But, according to his model, there are wolves (sociopaths) and packs of wild dogs (gangs and aggressive armies) abroad in the land, and the sheepdogs (the soldiers and policemen of the world) are environmentally and biologically predisposed to be the ones who confront these predators.'
Do I believe this? Somewhat. I still believe the best way to fight a war is to bring diplomacy, a robust economy, opportunity and an assortment of other things so you don’t have a war in the first place.
Grossman doesn’t quite believe this view either, at least not entirely. Still – it’s a way of thinking about it.
And if I’m a sheep – which I may be, because I don’t engage in any sort of aggression myself, then I’m thankful for those sheepdogs who keep the wild dogs at bay.
In any case – fantastic book. It should be required reading for just about everyone.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2018The book is so old and so frequently referenced that I finally read it. It's different. I was surprised. It reads like it's written at a 10th grade reading level from the beginning. Lots of random and wandering thought lines are anchored in massively-funded and easily externally referenced material to dispel doubt, nearly two centuries of military research, 18th -20th century foxhole hearsay somewhat updated with 21st century PTSD science. The book gets past the basic writing to grow into a considered writing. The concepts and mind imagery raises the book to an intense mind fertilizer read. Read a bit and sleep on it. It creeps into your mind as it should.
"On Killing" describes in visceral detail a mental conditioning phenomenon. My 40-some years of defense R&DTE experience runs directly and indirectly through the subject.
The narrative converges on a seeming constant summed up with the long studies that normative conscript and basically trained citizen soldier translates to ‘80-90% of front line combat shooters don't shoot’. They may in fact be unable to kill another human being. Is there a deep subconscious rejection to killing that cannot be trained out? The phenomenon has been observed for 300 years and well documented between even the most desperate belligerents.
The writers and amenders here compare very long-term rifle range 'marksmanship' scores with long observed battlefield kill statistics ... 80-90 out of 100 shooters, all with 10 for 10 scores on the firing range can be predicted to not shot in combat or intentionally shoot high. Up to 1000 shots per kill from a trained army have been observed on the battlefield even against closely spaced bayonet charging enemies. The civil war should have been predictably many times more lethal if combatants actually shot. WWI should have demonstrated the highest lethality of any war before, but casualties were in fact statistically lower than major medieval battles. WW2 may had the worst shooter marksmanship disparity between range accuracy to 100M vs actual <25m kill rates. How can it be that automatic single serve weapons have not been conclusively demonstrated to be more battlefield lethal than 18th century Prussian single shot muskets? Training evolved accordingly.
Begin with the data ... 10-20% of rifleman will kill. 80-90% won’t. The squadron level soldiers are shown to know the killers from the non-shooters. A squadron battle order is collectively and perhaps without discussion resolved by its members. Members know who a reliable shooter is and who is not. Non-shooters are accepted, not rejected by squad members. There is no apparent squad level dishonor in not shooting in the heat of battle. The non-shooters will earn their keep and lose their own lives more frequently than squad shooters to ensure the killing shooters survival and rate of fire. The squadron shooters will abide by the collective arrangement. An unspoken equilibrium emerges among squad members.
Crew served weapon shooters are savage killers. Collective killing dynamics are far different than the rifleman dynamics.
Grimly, how can it be that a ‘firing squad’ member can exit 5-years of battlefield firing squad duty to describe the experience of never shooting a convict? Why do firing squad records reflect a progressive inaccuracy of shots on target? How could it be that some recorded firing squads required three or more attempts to execute the convicted? Here is a deep, dark human psychology primer. "On Killing" forces unanswerable questions on the reader … is PTSD more prevalent among shooters or non-shooters? Is the high rate of vet suicide a function of killing or a breakdown from not shooting? How much PTSD is the result of self-loathing or deep regret for not shooting when comrades and the battle demanded it? Is special forces training designed so rigorous in an attempt to separate shooters from non-shooters from among the general infantry population? Here the modern training regimen has reversed and changed the shooter from non-shooter.
Tough, intense questions from such a short read. "On Killing" will most assuredly affect your military and history thinking. The authors here focus understanding around the killing dimension.
The book is a thoroughly adult read I think. Young adults headed for the police or military career should read it. Concealed carry citizens should read it. Here be thoughts that might save your own life.
Top reviews from other countries
- owen victor st.hilaireReviewed in Canada on January 24, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars on killing
I am a keen student of history and have long been interested in the Marshal studdies and the implications of same. I had previously read some of the authers that Mr.Grossman uses as sources, ( Gwyn Dyer and John Keegan ) and so was very familier with his refferences. This book should , I belive be read by all north americans as it speaks directly to some of the key societal problems we are encountering to day.
It is well written, clear and to the point. It is as unbiased as one can be when a soldier writes about war and killing. If you are interested in the real trade of the soldier or the political and social sciences this is a must read.
- CSReviewed in Spain on March 13, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, with On Combat
To me, the strongest points of Grossman's research are the inherent human rejection to killing other human beings, and how military technique has overcome this rejection, improving shooting and targeting ratios.
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SilsiReviewed in Germany on December 20, 2011
5.0 out of 5 stars Ein Buch über das Töten, das mir den Glauben an die Menschheit wieder gegeben hat.
Die Menschen als blutrünstige Raubtiere, die man nur mit List und Tücke davon abhalten kann, sich gegenseitig zu zerfleischen? Alles falsch! In Wirklichkeit - so die Aussage von "On Killing" - ist es verdammt schwer, einen Menschen dazu zu bringen, einen anderen zu töten.
Der Ausgangspunkt des Buches ist eine Studie aus dem 2. Weltkrieg von General Marshall, der heraus fand, dass in einem Gefecht nur 15-20% der Soldaten auf den Feind schießen. 80-85% der Soldaten (die Non-Firers) hatten Besseres zu tun: Nachschub organisieren, Nachrichten weiterleiten oder - unter Einsatz ihres Lebens - Verwundete bergen. Was für die Generäle der Welt ein Riesen-Problem ist, ist für mich ein Anlass zur Hoffnung: Menschen wollen nicht töten.
Grossman zeigt, wie die Armeen der Welt (leider) aus der Marshall-Studie gelernt haben und es mit "verbesserten" Trainingsmethoden geschafft haben, die Quote der Non-Firers zu senken. Er zeigt, was es für die Psyche der Soldaten bedeutet, gegen ihre Urinstinkte zu verstoßen. Für uns Zivilisten zeigt das Buch, was es bedeutet, wenn Filme und Bücher uns ständig vorgaukeln, es wäre einfach zu töten - insbesondere "böse" Menschen zu töten. Und wie gefährlich es für unsere Gesellschaft ist, dass unsere Kinder in Video-Spielen spielerisch lernen, ihre Abneigung gegen das Töten von Menschen zu überwinden.
Aber die Kernaussage des Buches bleibt: Menschen wollen nicht töten. Und das ist doch mal eine hoffnungsvolle Aussage.
Hoffentlich wird dieses wichtige Buch bald ins Deutsche übersetzt, um noch mehr Leser zu finden.
- Stephane BaillieReviewed in France on January 5, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars a compelling argument against violence in the entertainment industry
At first, I was interested in the topic of understanding how Ward makes killing easier. Mr. Grossman explain that it actually doesn’t, unless young men are condition for that. And that has consequences. But the last part of Of the book is even more compelling as it dissipates in the compelling way, how much havoc violence as entertainment is generating in our society.
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Luciano da Silva RodriguesReviewed in Brazil on June 6, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars A visão sobre o ato de matar e os custos para os guerreiros e para a sociedade
A exposição dos aspectos psicológicos relacionados ao ato de tirar a vida de outro ser humano, ainda que em combate, e de como as pessoas não são propensas, em sua maioria, a realizar tal ato, amplia e muito o horizonte de discussão sobre segurança pública e defesa nacional.
Grossman consegue trazer várias fontes que mostram como o treinamento realizados nestas áreas e dos custos, tanto pessoais quanto sociais, advindos do ato de tirar a vida de outra pessoa, são grandes e complexos demais para serem analisados de forma rasa e superficial, inclusive com pré-julgamentos que normalmente são feitos sobre os agentes que dedicam suas vidas a proteger a sociedade.