On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman was born on August 23, 1956. He has published multiple works of nonfiction and fiction and various articles in academic journals. With an MA in Education in the field of psychological counseling and his experience as an Army Ranger, Grossman has the experience and educational credentials to write this book. While he has never killed anyone, Grossman interviewed many soldiers who had, and he relates their stories. As a professor at West Point and with his military background, Grossman was able to gain access to veterans and gain their trust more easily than others could. The book is now required reading for US Marine commanders and the FBI. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has been translated into Japanese, Korean, and German.

On Killing remains Grossman’s most famous work. Grossman begins with the premise that human beings have an innate resistance to killing members of their own species. Drawing upon psychological studies, he then explains how the military has used desensitization and behavioral conditioning to overcome this resistance to killing successfully. However, he argues that the military has not addressed the psychological impact of killing on soldiers. In creating a field he dubs “killology,” Grossman exposes the psychological costs of sustained combat and the difficulty that 98% of soldiers have in coming to terms with killing.