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On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning How to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is an intensely insightful book. His experience in the military, and as a Psychology professor at the prestigious West Point Military Academy, gives Dave Grossman the thoroughness of a learned psychologist with the practical viewpoint of a lifetime dedicated to military service. He begins with a look back into history; surprising his readers with facts like only one in every five soldiers was willing to fire his weapon. This strong reluctance to end another human’s life was a surprising phenomenon to me. As the reader continues in the book, Grossman describes the methods that the military used to try and change the reluctant mentality of soldiers, so that killing became an instinct instead. Grossman mentions that the effects of this perverse psychological training were most strongly seen in the veterans of the Vietnam War. The soldiers who came home found that their psychological wounds transcended anything that previous veterans had had to deal with. They were given no counseling and faced with anti-war protestors who condescendingly rejected everything the soldiers had gone through; the emotional effects, like nightmares and aggressive behavior, are shocking. These accounts were obtained by Grossman through interviews; the results were disturbing as the reader begins to understand how the psychological impact of being shut-off from one’s human nature/morals can have devastating effects. Grossman then talks about why killing has become easier for younger generations: society has dehumanized the act of killing through such things as videogames and media. I gained much insight from Grossman’s book. With my own father a veteran of thirty years of military service, I came to respect and understand more of what he went through. This book could focus more on the psychological developments, but even then Grossman is quite thorough. This account by Grossman...