On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

A controversial psychological examination of how soldiers' willingness to kill has been encouraged and exploited to the detriment of civilian society.

"An illuminating account of how soldiers learn to kill and how they live with the experience of having killed." —Washington Post

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 s...