Violent Accounts

Robert N. Kraft is Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Otterbein University (Westerville, OH). He is the author of Memory Perceived: Recalling the Holocaust.

• Acknowledgments Introduction: Crimes of Allegiance 1. Regarding Perpetrators: Studying Collective Violence 2. Apartheid and Amnesty: Managing a History of Sustained Oppression 3. Understanding Crimes of Allegiance: Patterns of Violent Influence 4. Uncovering Truth: Confronting Perpetrators and Victims 5. Reconciling Testimony: A Work in Progress 6. Beyond the TRC: Negotiating the Aftermath of Collective Violence Conclusions: Learning from the Violence of Others Appendix Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

This is a sophisticated and impressive study of testimony from perpetrators of political violence given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. It is sharp and insightful and adds considerably to our knowledge of perpetrators of violence as well as the process of restorative justice. - Donald Foster,University of Cape Town Provides a compelling and fascinating glimpse into the mental states of people who commit heinous, morally shocking crimes. Krafts studious survey of the accounts of violent actions by both South African freedom fighters and policemen promotes a profound understanding of what human beings are capable of doingand of how they do things that in retrospect are indefensible. This book is a great contribution to the psychology of what drives typical, well-meaning individual human beings to perpetrate evil. - Roy F. Baumeister,author of Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty An important volume on multiple levels. Violent Accounts is important methodologically as a carefully conceived and meticulously rendered description of the structures and systems of qualitative research. It is also a signature contribution to the literature on the phenomenology of memory and on the psychology of violence from both the perpetrators and the victims perspectives. At the same time, Krafts work should be a must-read for policy makers and others interested in developing more humane and lasting strategies for addressing the consequences of violent confrontations within and between communities, whether on the level of neighborhoods or nations. And finally, it is a deeply moving and thought-provoking exploration of the larger ethical challenges of understanding and confronting violence with a view toward embracing reconciliation and restorative justice as more fully human ways of moving forward together in the aftermath of war and aggression.- Mary Brydon-Miller,University of Cincinnati Delivers a rigorously grounded analysis of the accounts of perpetrators of collective violence during South Africa's apartheid years. These accounts provide rich material with which to address the politics of restorative justice and the reconciliatory promises of public testimony, but more importantly, they provide an analytic template for further work on advancing the psychological study of violence of different types across the world. (PsycCRITIQUES)