Promotional Information

"A highly welcome and intelligent philosophical reflection on contemporary forms of violence and on our attempts to name them-and thereby unflinchingly come to grips with them." -- Paul Kottman, New School University "This moving and humane book never stops delivering, from small details such as Adriana Cavarero's insightful dissection of the term 'casualty' and her analysis of the leers on the faces of the photographed women torturers at Abu Ghraib, to large claims& mdash;that horror is the real aim of terrorism and that its worst offense is an ontological crime: that of erasing the singularity of persons and transforming all humans into mere insignificant body matter. By contrast, even Medea, Cavarero notes in one of this book's many breathtaking moments, knew the sons she killed by name and 'loved them in their unrepeatable singularity.'" -- Bonnie Honig, author of Democracy and the Foreigner

Table of Contents

Translator's Note Acknowledgments Introduction 1 - Etymologies: "Terror"; or, On Surviving 2 - Etymologies: "Horror"; or On Dismembering 3 - On War 4 - The Howl of Medusa 5 - The Vulnerability of the Helpless 6 - The Crime of Medea 7 - Horrorism; or, On Violence Against the Helpless 8 - Those Who Have Seen the Gorgon 9 - Auschwitz; or, On Extreme Horror 10 - Erotic Carnages 11 - So Mutilated that It Might Be the Body of the Pig 12 - The Warrior's Pleasure 13 - Worldwide Aggressiveness 14 - For a History of Terror 15 - Suicidal Horrorism 16 - When the Bomb is a Woman's Body 17 - Female Torturers Grinning at the Camera Appendix: The Horror! The Horror! Rereading Conrad Notes Bibliography

About the Author

Adriana Cavarero is professor of political philosophy at the University of Verona and has been a visiting professor at New York University, Harvard University, and the University of California at Berkeley. Her books in English include In Spite of Plato: A Feminist Rewriting of Ancient Philosophy; Stately Bodies: Literature, Philosophy, and the Question of Gender; Relating Narratives: Storytelling and Selfhood; and For More Than One Voice: Toward a Philosophy of Vocal Expression.

Reviews

Essential. Choice Her book is indispensable for anyone keen to understand violence in our society today. -- Joanna Bourke Environment and Planning D