Fields Of Blood (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction) - Hardcover

Armstrong, Karen

3.91

2,664 ratings by Goodreads

9781410474124: Fields Of Blood (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1410474127 ISBN 13: 9781410474124

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2014

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The best-selling author of A History of God provides a sweeping exploration of religion's connection to violence, from the agrarian societies of early civilized man to the growing post-9/11 disillusionment with religion. (general history)

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Review:

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2014: Does religion lead to violence? This is the question that Karen Armstrong, the erudite former nun, asks in Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. Her answer is “no”—or more specifically, that religion is not itself a source of violence and the problem lies more deeply in “our human nature and the nature of the state.” To prove her point, she covers roughly five thousand years of religious history, from Gilgamesh to the present day. Along the way, she builds the case against those who state, often without much context, that “religion has been the cause of all the major wars in history.” This is both an apologia and a wide-ranging and very readable lesson in the history of religion. It may not completely change the mind of everyone who reads it; but like everything Armstrong writes, it will leave them more enriched. –Chris Schluep

About the Author:

KAREN ARMSTRONG is the author of numerous other books on religious affairs, including "The Case for God," "A History of God," "The Battle for God, Holy War, Islam, Buddha" and "The Great Transformation"--and a memoir, "The Spiral Staircase." Her work has been translated into 45 languages. In February 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and began working with TED on The Charter for Compassion, created online by the general public, crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as in Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. It was launched globally in the fall of 2009. She is currently an ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations. The author lives in London, UK.

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