A candid exploration of sadomasochistic practices driving contemporary culture, covering the demoralizing socioeconomic and political conditions that give rise to agonizing rituals of cruelty demonstrated at systemic, transnational, religious, familial, and even sexual spheres of human relations.
"I am delighted that Lisiunia Romanienko has finally sat down to document, in pain-staking detail, the numerous societal cruelties we have witnessed and agonized over throughout the years. It is high time that her thoughtful observations of the aggressive patterns of behavior around the world are being brought to light in this timely and courageous book." - Alessandra Rusconi, Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany
'People everywhere are yearning for the cessation of state and non-state cruelties. Lisiunia Romanienko has captured these unique demoralizing and paradoxically empowering processes. It is rare for an intellectual to engage both the heart and mind in the research process, yet in this way she enables her reader to gain a better understanding of the resilience of the human spirit in response to persistent depravity documented in this ground-breaking book.' - Gideon Kressel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
'People everywhere are yearning for the cessation of state and non-state cruelties. Lisiunia Romanienko has captured these unique demoralizing and paradoxically empowering processes. It is rare for an intellectual to engage both the heart and mind in the research process, yet in this way she enables her reader to gain a better understanding of the resilience of the human spirit in response to persistent depravity documented in this ground-breaking book.' - Gideon Kressel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel