The purpose of this volume is not simply to compile yet another wearying chronicle of the horrors that have been committed by our fellow human beings. It is intended to give the needed context to understand why such violence has been perpetrated in the past and why it continues to occur so frequently in the contemporary world.

John Cox is Associate Professor of History and Global Studies at the University of North Carolina Charlotte.

Thomas Earl Porter is Professor of Russian and Modern European History at North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC.