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Mercy: Humanity in Warfare

Online ISBN:
9780197646687
Print ISBN:
9780190077280
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Mercy: Humanity in Warfare

Cathal J. Nolan
Cathal J. Nolan
Professor of History & Director, International History Institute, Boston University
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Published online:
17 November 2022
Published in print:
1 December 2022
Online ISBN:
9780197646687
Print ISBN:
9780190077280
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book relates stories of morally decent actions in a broader context of the essential barbarism of war. It charts the wider path of obscenity and atrocity in war to highlight moments of moral grace, of goodwill toward the enemy and civilians inside a frame of jarring ugliness and malice. It presents portraits of everyday folk who reacted in a moment of crisis with mercy and sensitivity, with empathy for the shared humanity of an enemy or the innocent. The book recognizes the elect few who refused immoral acts and orders, even at grave personal risk. It challenges all nationalist myths, the usual heroic fabrications encountered in military history, and all claims to exclusive or unilateral virtue.

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