A criminal profiler journeys inside the dark minds of serial killers to provide a portrait of these deadly predators, how they hunt for victims, how to identify them, and how to protect oneself from them.

God, Nimrod, and the World presents the perspectives of more than two-dozen authors on the controversial sport of hunting, surveying the relationship between the blood sport and the salvation religion of Christianity. The first half of the book provides sketches of the diverse interpretations of hunting in Hebrew and Christian cultures of the last two millennia, finally giving voice to those in the field who are both practitioners and persons of faith. The second half offers prescriptions for the place of hunting in the life of contemporary Christians, with perspectives arguing for prohibition to those contending that hunting has a practical, even perfecting, place in the life of faith. The contributors, who hail from North America and the United Kingdom, include biblical scholars, theologians, philosophers, ethicists, historians, and sociologists, as well as professional athletes, celebrity hunters, teachers, musicians, healthcare professionals, and a soldier. Contributors include: Walter A. Abercrombie, Kenneth Bass, B. Jill Carroll, Steve Chapman, Ralph Cianciarulo, Gregory A. Clark, Dale Connally, Michel DeJean, Alastair J. Durie, Joshua P. Foster, Michael J. Gilmour, Shawn Graves, Bracy V. Hill II, Tammy Koenig, Nathan Kowalsky, Lisa M. Lepard, Stephanie Medley-Rath, W. E. Nunnally, Jase Robertson, Dennis Staffelbach, Jeremy S. Stirm, James A. Tantillo, Stephen M. Vantassel, Theodore R. Vitali C.P., Stephen H. Webb, John B. White, and Daniel Witt.

Across the country and around the world, people avidly engage in the cultural practice of hunting. Children are taken on rite-of-passage hunting trips, where relationships are cemented and legacies are passed on from one generation to another. Meals are prepared from hunted game, often consisting of regionally specific dishes that reflect a community’s heritage and character. Deer antlers and bear skins are hung on living room walls, decorations and relics of a hunter’s most impressive kills. Only 5 percent of Americans are hunters, but that group has a substantial presence in the cultural consciousness. Hunting has spurred controversy in recent years, inciting protest from animal rights activists and lobbying from anti-cruelty demonstrators who denounce the custom. But hunters have responded to such criticisms and the resulting legislative censures with a significant argument in their defense—the claim that their practices are inextricably connected to a cultural tradition. Further, they counter that they, as representatives of the rural lifestyle, pioneer heritage, and traditional American values, are the ones being victimized. Simon J. Bronner investigates this debate in Killing Tradition: Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies. Through extensive research and fieldwork, Bronner takes on the many questions raised by this problematic subject: Does hunting promote violence toward humans as well as animals? Is it an outdated activity, unnecessary in modern times? Is the heritage of hunting worth preserving? Killing Tradition looks at three case studies that are at the heart of today’s hunting debate. Bronner first examines the allegedly barbaric rituals that take place at deer camps every late November in rural America. He then analyzes the annual Labor Day pigeon shoot of Hegins, Pennsylvania, which brings animal rights protests to a fever pitch. Noting that these aren’t simply American concerns (and that the animal rights movement in America is linked to British animal welfare protests), Bronner examines the rancor surrounding the passage of Great Britain’s Hunting Act of 2004—the most comprehensive and divisive anti-hunting legislation ever enacted. The practice of hunting is sure to remain controversial, as it continues to be touted and defended by its supporters and condemned and opposed by its detractors. With Killing Tradition, Bronner reflects on the social, psychological, and anthropological issues of the debate, reevaluating notions of violence, cruelty, abuse, and tradition as they have been constructed and contested in the twenty-first century.

This is the classic treatise on hunting, written by Spain's leading philosopher of the 20th century. Reprinted with permission from Scribner, this edition features handsome new illustrations. The author explains the reason why humans hunt, as well as the ethics of hunting.

Though not often acknowledged openly, killing represents by far the most common form of human interaction with animals. These multidisciplinary essays reveal the complexity of this phenomenon by exploring the extraordinary diversity in killing practices and the wide variety of meanings attached to them.

Leizman, a PhD (in some unnamed field), provides a brief overview and a review of sports literature, then discusses violence in ancient Greek and Roman sports, in early American sports, and in the writings of one or two philosophers; current administrative and legal remedies to violence in American professional sports; his Zen Buddhism/martial arts-based alternative to violent western training models; and several proposals for controlling violence, including limiting consumption of alcohol, reducing noise at games, doing away with mascots, instituting penalties for fighting, and holding professional athletes legally responsible for injuries they inflict. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR