This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand the political and economic roots of the inequality and violence we witness in the contemporary United States and puts it in historical perspective. Barbara H. Chasin writes with incredible lucidity, making complex concepts and connections easy to understand for readers of all levels.

Kristin Plys, University of Toronto Mississauga

Dr. Chasin’s in-depth examination of violence in contemporary American society offers readers a clear understanding of how the violence enacted by institutions and structures is veiled through the ways such acts are discursively justified as normal, justified, or necessary. The updated edition’s analysis of the violence enacted through manufacturing misinformation about COVID-19 and corporate complicity in the opioid epidemic are especially poignant. This book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand injustice, power, and violence in American society.

Kristin Haltinner, University of Idaho

“Well-written, well researched with gripping details and broad analysis: a revealing, hard-hitting book of much value. . .”

Michael Parenti, author of Democracy for the Few and The Terrorism Trap

“Chasin manages to make a significant contribution . . . by broadening our definition of violence. Though Chasin . . . focuses on the impact of class inequality on interpersonal violence, she demonstrates that in order to truly understand the deleterious impacts of capitalism one need only examine the characteristics of those who who are killed or injured in the workplace, the characteristics of those that die or are maimed fighting to protect our nation; the characteristics of those that suffer from man-made environmental hazards.”

George E. Tita, Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews