We live in a time when we are overwhelmed with talk and images of violence. Whet
her on television, the internet, films or the video screen, we can't escape repr
esentations of actual or fictional violence. But what do we mean by violence? Wh
at can violence achieve? Are there limits to violence and, if so, what are they?
Bernstein seeks to answer these questions by examining the work of five figures
who have thought deeply about violence - Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Hannah
Arendt, Frantz Fanon, and Jan Assmann.
