The End of Violence

We often talk about violence as if it was a disease - something that infects communities and spreads until it becomes an epidemic. So, what if we treated it that way? Could we slow it down? Could we even find a cure?

Drawing on decades fighting infectious disease as Director of Intervention at the World Health Organization, Dr Gary Slutkin reveals how violence behaves like other epidemics - spreading through exposure and social transmission, but also responsive to proven methods of interruption and prevention. By treating violence as a contagious illness rather than a moral failing, he reveals how people around the world have begun to heal themselves and their communities.

This essential book unveils the insidious way violence works on our bodies and brains - from exposure to contagion to epidemic - and shows how we can break the cycle of trauma by interrupting the spread. Incisive, far-reaching and ultimately hopeful, The End of Violence challenges the idea that violence is inevitable and points the way to a more peaceful world.