Violence: Six Sideways Reflections (Big Ideas/Small Books) - Softcover

"In this provocative and brilliantly argued work, philosopher Zizek takes readers on an intellectual and artistic tour--drawing upon Picasso's Guernica, Alfred Hitchcock and M. Night Shyamalan's films, Michel Houellebecq's novels, jokes, Lacanian psychology and a Kantian analysis of Hurricane Katrina--to demonstrate how societies understand, obscure and deny the sources of violence. His is not an examination of offenses but an argument that violence can perhaps be best defined by the bystanders and not by its perpetrators or victims." - Publishers Weekly

A philosopher and cultural critic discusses the diverse ways in which violence is perceived and misperceived in the world, addressing such provocative issues as whether or not capitalism, or even civilization, causes more violence than it prevents, and the inherent violence of globalization, fundamentalism, and language. Original. 30,000 first printing.