The author puts theories about violence in historical perspective and re-examines the relationships between war and politics, violence and power. She questions the nature of violent behaviour, points out the causes of its many manifestations, and ultimately argues against Mao Tse-tung’s dictum “power grows t of the barrel of a gun”, proposing instead that “power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent.”

The author puts theories about violence in historical perspective and re-examines the relationships between war and politics, violence and power. She questions the nature of violent behaviour, points out the causes of its many manifestations, and ultimately argues against Mao Tse-tung’s dictum “power grows t of the barrel of a gun”, proposing instead that “power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent.”