Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg's Books

A History of Murder

Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

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A History of Murder

Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

This book offers a fascinating and insightful overview of seven centuries of murder in Europe. It tells the story of the changing face of violence and documents the long-term decline in the incidence of homicide. From medieval vendettas to stylised duels, from the crime passionel of the modern period right up to recent public anxieties about serial killings and underworld assassinations, the book offers a richly illustrated account of murder's metamorphoses. In this original and compelling contribution, Spierenburg sheds new light on several important themes. He looks, for example, at the transformation of homicide from a private matter, followed by revenge or reconciliation, into a public crime, always subject to state intervention. Combining statistical data with a cultural approach, he demonstrates the crucial role gender played in the spiritualisation of male honour and the subsequent reduction of male-on-male aggression, as well as offering a comparative view of how different social classes practised and reacted to violence. This authoritative study will be of great value to students and scholars of the history of crime and violence, criminology and the sociology of violence. At a time when murder rates are rising and public fears about violent crime are escalating, this book will also interest the general reader intrigued by how our relationship with murder reached this point.

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Page Count

281

Publisher

Polity

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745643779

ISBN 13

9780745643779

The Spectacle of Suffering

Executions and the Evolution of Repression: From a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

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The Spectacle of Suffering

Executions and the Evolution of Repression: From a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

Pieter Spierenburg traces the long period of evolution that gave rise to the modern debate about punishment, and relates it to the development of Western European society.

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Page Count

296

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521261864

ISBN 13

9780521261869

Written in Blood

Fatal Attraction in Enlightenment Amsterdam

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

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Written in Blood

Fatal Attraction in Enlightenment Amsterdam

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

Spierenburg narrates two sensational murdercases among intimates in eighteenth-century Amsterdam. The cases both resulted from fatal attration. The eighteenth century witnessed great cultural changes affecting personal relationships. The new ideal of love demanded that couples spended more time together and explore each other's feelings. For maried coules that might be good, for other couples it might be disaster.

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Page Count

252

Publisher

Ohio State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814209556

ISBN 13

9780814209554

The Spectacle of Suffering

Executions and the Evolution of Repression: From a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

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The Spectacle of Suffering

Executions and the Evolution of Repression: From a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience

By: Petrus Cornelis Spierenburg

Pieter Spierenburg traces the long period of evolution that gave rise to the modern debate about punishment, and relates it to the development of Western European society.

Average ratings

N/A