Abram De Swaan: 3 books

The twentieth century was among the bloodiest in the history of humanity. Untold millions were slaughtered. How people are enrolled in the service of evil is a question that continues to bedevil. In this trenchant book, Abram de Swaan offers a taxonomy of mass violence that focuses on the rank-and-file...

This book is a brief introduction to the study of society, which may be read without any previous knowledge of the social sciences. Each chapter addresses a fundamental question about people in their various arrangements. The book begins by asking: what do people need from one another; what...

This bold and accessible study of human languages and communication explores issues which are at the forefront of today's globalized society. The human species is divided into more than five thousand language groups that do not understand each other. And yet these groups constitute one coherent...