When we speak of mass killers, we may speak of radicalised ideologues, mediocrities who only obey orders, or bloodthirsty monsters. Living in Death offers new answers to a question that has haunted us at least since the Holocaust. For Richard, it is not ideologies that kill, but people. This book descends into the ordinary life of people who execute hundreds every day, the same way others go to the office, constituting an anthropology of mass killers.



Turning away from existing psychological and philosophical accounts of genocide’s perpetrators, the author instead explores the conditions under which administering death becomes a job like any other. Considering Cambodia, Rwanda, and other mass killings, Living in Death draws on a vast array of archival research, psychological theory, and anecdotes from the author’s clinical work with refugees and former participants in genocide. Richard mounts a compelling case for reframing and refocusing our attempts to explain—and preempt—acts of mass torture, rape, killing, and extermination.



What we must see is that for genocidaires (those who carry out acts that are or approach genocide), there is nothing extraordinary, unusual, or world-historical about their actions. On the contrary, they are preoccupied with the same mundane things that characterize any other job: interactions with colleagues, living conditions, a drink and a laugh at the end of the day. To understand this is to understand how things came to be the way they are—and how they might be different.

Explore further how we use conceptual ideas to shape the practices of organisations involved in tackling mass violence.