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Chimps, our closest relatives, kill each other. But chimps do not engage in anything close to mass slaughter of their own kind. Why is this? There are two possible explanations for the difference. The first is this: chimps are not programmed, so to say, to commit mass slaughter, while humans are so programmed. The second is this: chimps do not make their own history and therefore cannot make the conditions conducive to genocide, while humans do, can, and repeatedly have. In the former case, human genocidal behavior is part of our evolved \u201cnature\u201d; in the latter case, it is a historical artifact. After reading Ben Kiernan\u2019s sobering (Yale UP, 2007) I\u2019ve come to believe that it is a bit of both. Much of what we know about the evolution of human psychology and the history of human genocide suggest that we have an ingrained, genetically-encoded, largely unalterable drive to want to kill one another in large numbers. That drive, however, seems to be triggered by particular historical circumstances, these being largely of our own making. In Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (Yale UP, 2007), Ben explores the nature of these triggering circumstances by looking at the history of genocide over the past five or so centuries. He finds unmistakable commonalities among modern genocides, primarily in the world of ideology. When modern people begin to believe that there is something sacred about their \u201cblood\u201d\u2013that is, their own kind\u2013and \u201csoil\u201d\u2013that is, the plowed fields that sustain their kind\u2013they have taken the first step toward the creation of the above-mentioned triggering conditions. When they believe, further, that their \u201cblood and soil\u201d are threatened by another \u201ckind,\u201d or they see an opportunity to extend the reach of their \u201cblood and soil,\u201d the conditions are almost complete. All that remains is for elites in the community to mobilize the force necessary to launch a genocidal attack. At this point what was merely necessary for genocide becomes, with the addition of a will and a way, sufficient and our innate genocidal tendencies are enacted. The challenge, of course, is to avoid creating the conditions that foster \u201cblood and soil\u201d ideologies and set us on the road to ruin. Alas, thus far we have not been able to accomplish that important task.\n\nPlease become a fan of \u201cNew Books in History\u201d on Facebook if you haven\u2019t already.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies