August 29, 2021
“Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization,” by David Livingstone Smith. Harvard University Press. $27.95, hardcover, on sale Oct. 12.
With “Making Monsters,” the University of New England’s David Livingstone Smith has crafted a meditation on dehumanization that manages to be both scholarly and accessible. Smith is the foremost philosopher on the topic, and is a regular source for media around the world on the roots of racist and political violence. As in his earlier works “On Inhumanity” and “Less Than Human,” the author leaves behind jargon and roots the book deeply in history and current affairs to present a compelling case as to why humans can be so cruel as to think of each other as inhuman. While I’d often hesitate to include an academic title in a list of recommendations for a general audience, this title is simply too important to miss.