Violence and Conflict: Understanding the Issues and Consequences.

By Karl Schonborn, published by Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, 1998.

The author of Violence and Conflict: Understanding the Issues and Consequences has compiled an anthology that provides readers with an understanding of the issues and consequences surrounding some of the unconventional types of violence in America. Consequently, the readings revolve around the less commonly recognized and understood types of violent behavior, such as terrorism and elder abuse, as opposed to the typical homicide or robbery.

The author astutely presents an exploration of violence from a perspective of the whole system (i.e., police officers and probation officers may analyze the same situation in different ways). This represents a more logical method of categorizing the different types of unconventional violence that occur at all levels of society. The result is a comprehensive overview that addresses violence along the entire sociological continuum. Micro-, mid-, and macro-level explanations receive equal presentation as the book progresses from discussions of violence between individuals to the larger concerns of community conflict.

Divided into five sections, the book begins with an introduction to the study of violence. The author delineates key definitional terms and proposes typologies for the various subcategories of violent behavior, such as gang violence. The remaining four sections offer descriptions of these behaviors as they occur between individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Family violence receives extensive coverage in the second section. Overviews are provided for spousal, child, and elder abuse, as well as gun control and the fear of crime. The third section addresses group violence and provides concise summaries on gang violence and the gang-drug connection. Section four examines organizational violence through discussions of religious and political violence and violence by and against the police. The final section analyzes violence at the community level and offers exceptional historical depictions of civil rioting and several case studies of recent domestic terrorism incidents. The inclusion of both historical and contemporary material enables the reader to compare and contrast violent behavior over time and across jurisdictions. This historical perspective is most apparent in the chapters on gangs and civil disorders. The book provides excellent summaries that trace the evolution of gangs and document the racial tension that has plagued America over the past 200 years. Contemporary case studies on such events as the Oklahoma City bombing and the migration of drug-trafficking gangs significantly enhance the volume's utility as a tool for understanding today's violence and its relationship to preceding acts of violent conflict.

The author's ability to incorporate numerous articles into one coherent manuscript represents the book's greatest strength. Violence and Conflict is well written, user-friendly, and flows logically from one section to the next. The author should be commended for expending additional effort on a study guide, which raises provocative discussion questions, recommends challenging student assignments, and provides an extensive list of related books, videos, and Internet resources.

The author attains, and surpasses, his initial objective by producing a volume that advances a systemwide understanding of violence and provides excellent summaries of unconventional violence in America. The author successfully targets his work to a large and diversified general audience. Students, practitioners, and policy makers within the criminal justice field, as well as others from such disciplines as sociology, psychology, political science, and public health should read and study Violence and Conflict: Understanding the Issues and Consequences.

Reviewed by Douglas L. Yearwood Director North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission Raleigh, North Carolina