Siniša Malešević is a Professor of Sociology at University College Dublin. His books include Nation-States and Nationalisms: Organisation, Ideology and Solidarity (2013), The Sociology of War and Violence (Cambridge, 2006), Identity as Ideology (2006), The Sociology of Ethnicity (2004) and the edited volumes Ernest Gellner and Historical Sociology (2015), Nationalism and War (Cambridge, 2013) and Ernest Gellner and Contemporary Social Thought (Cambridge, 2007). His work has been translated into Croatian, Persian, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian and Spanish.

'This is an extremely important book - proving against naive recent contentions that modernity and violence go hand-in-hand. It is empirically and theoretically sophisticated, and elegant and lucid as well.' John Anthony Hall, McGill University, Montréal

• Acknowledgements; Introduction: the faces of violence; 1. What is organised violence?; 2. Violence in the long run; 3. How old is human brutality?; 4. The rise and rise of organised violence; 5. Warfare; 6. Revolutions; 7. Genocides; 8. Terrorisms; 9. Why humans fight?; Conclusion: the future of organised violence; References; Index.

Siniša Malešević is a Professor of Sociology at University College Dublin. His books include Nation-States and Nationalisms: Organisation, Ideology and Solidarity (2013), The Sociology of War and Violence (Cambridge, 2006), Identity as Ideology (2006), The Sociology of Ethnicity (2004) and the edited volumes Ernest Gellner and Historical Sociology (2015), Nationalism and War (Cambridge, 2013) and Ernest Gellner and Contemporary Social Thought (Cambridge, 2007). His work has been translated into Croatian, Persian, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian and Spanish.

'This is an extremely important book - proving against naive recent contentions that modernity and violence go hand-in-hand. It is empirically and theoretically sophisticated, and elegant and lucid as well.' John Anthony Hall, McGill University, Montréal

• Acknowledgements; Introduction: the faces of violence; 1. What is organised violence?; 2. Violence in the long run; 3. How old is human brutality?; 4. The rise and rise of organised violence; 5. Warfare; 6. Revolutions; 7. Genocides; 8. Terrorisms; 9. Why humans fight?; Conclusion: the future of organised violence; References; Index.

Siniša Malešević is a Professor of Sociology at University College Dublin. His books include Nation-States and Nationalisms: Organisation, Ideology and Solidarity (2013), The Sociology of War and Violence (Cambridge, 2006), Identity as Ideology (2006), The Sociology of Ethnicity (2004) and the edited volumes Ernest Gellner and Historical Sociology (2015), Nationalism and War (Cambridge, 2013) and Ernest Gellner and Contemporary Social Thought (Cambridge, 2007). His work has been translated into Croatian, Persian, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian and Spanish.

'This is an extremely important book - proving against naive recent contentions that modernity and violence go hand-in-hand. It is empirically and theoretically sophisticated, and elegant and lucid as well.' John Anthony Hall, McGill University, Montréal

• Acknowledgements; Introduction: the faces of violence; 1. What is organised violence?; 2. Violence in the long run; 3. How old is human brutality?; 4. The rise and rise of organised violence; 5. Warfare; 6. Revolutions; 7. Genocides; 8. Terrorisms; 9. Why humans fight?; Conclusion: the future of organised violence; References; Index.