Overview
A leading epidemiologist and violence prevention expert “leads us down an entirely new path to a world beyond violence” (Nicholas Kristoff), with a bold new theory of how violence infects a society, and a hopeful vision for eradicating it with the same playbook used to combat contagious disease.
Violence is often described as a social issue, a moral failing, or an innate human instinct. But in fact, argues Dr. Gary Slutkin, violence is a contagion that infects a society like a disease.
This isn't a metaphor. In THE END OF VIOLENCE, Dr. Slutkin draws on the expertise gleaned from 40+ years on the frontlines fighting deadly epidemics to reveal that violence operates according to the same predictable logic as every other contagious disease, initially infecting a small number of carriers then spreading from host to host. When a shooting occurs in a neighborhood, it's not just a tragic event—it's patient zero in an outbreak.
Through compelling stories ranging from the streets of Chicago, to war-torn villages in the Ukraine and Syria, to mass shootings in suburban America, THE END OF VIOLENCE offers a hopeful alternative to the failed strategies of deterrence and incarceration: a proven public health approach that interrupts transmission, changes behavior, and inoculates against future infection. Whether giving water to a child with diarrhea or providing a safe interruption to a domestic abuser, these methods focus on curing rather than punishing, and can be used to protect ourselves, heal our communities, and end the global epidemic of violence during our lifetime.
Violence is often described as a social issue, a moral failing, or an innate human instinct. But in fact, argues Dr. Gary Slutkin, violence is a contagion that infects a society like a disease.
This isn't a metaphor. In THE END OF VIOLENCE, Dr. Slutkin draws on the expertise gleaned from 40+ years on the frontlines fighting deadly epidemics to reveal that violence operates according to the same predictable logic as every other contagious disease, initially infecting a small number of carriers then spreading from host to host. When a shooting occurs in a neighborhood, it's not just a tragic event—it's patient zero in an outbreak.
Through compelling stories ranging from the streets of Chicago, to war-torn villages in the Ukraine and Syria, to mass shootings in suburban America, THE END OF VIOLENCE offers a hopeful alternative to the failed strategies of deterrence and incarceration: a proven public health approach that interrupts transmission, changes behavior, and inoculates against future infection. Whether giving water to a child with diarrhea or providing a safe interruption to a domestic abuser, these methods focus on curing rather than punishing, and can be used to protect ourselves, heal our communities, and end the global epidemic of violence during our lifetime.
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