Fields of Blood

Religion and the History of Violence

By: Karen Armstrong

Narrated by: Karen Armstrong

Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

From the renowned and best-selling author of A History of God, a sweeping exploration of religion and the history of human violence.

For the first time, religious self-identification is on the decline in American. Some analysts have cited as cause a post-9/11 perception: that faith in general is a source of aggression, intolerance, and divisiveness - something bad for society. But how accurate is that view? With deep learning and sympathetic understanding, Karen Armstrong sets out to discover the truth about religion and violence in each of the world’s great traditions, taking us on an astonishing journey from prehistoric times to the present.

While many historians have looked at violence in connection with particular religious manifestations (jihad in Islam or Christianity’s Crusades), Armstrong looks at each faith - not only Christianity and Islam, but also Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Judaism - in its totality over time. As she describes, each arose in an agrarian society with plenty powerful landowners brutalizing peasants while also warring among themselves over land, then the only real source of wealth. In this world, religion was not the discrete and personal matter it would become for us but rather something that permeated all aspects of society. And so it was that agrarian aggression, and the warrior ethos it begot, became bound up with observances of the sacred.

At a moment of rising geopolitical chaos, the imperative of mutual understanding between nations and faith communities has never been more urgent, the dangers of action based on misunderstanding never greater. Informed by Armstrong's sweeping erudition and personal commitment to the promotion of compassion, Fields of Blood makes vividly clear that religion is not the problem.

©2014 Karen Armstrong (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A well-written historical summary of what have traditionally been viewed as "religious" wars, showing convincingly that in pretty much all cases it was not so much religion as it was political issues that fueled the conflict." (Augustine J. Curley, Library Journal (starred review)

"Provocative and supremely readable…. the comparative nature of [Armstrong's] inquiry is refreshing…. Bracing as ever, [she] sweeps through religious history around the globe and over 4,000 years to explain the yoking of religion and violence and to elucidate the ways in which religion has also been used to counter violence." ( Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Fascinating!

Very informative and clearly articulated. A perspective on religions from past to present that helps explain our world today. Highly recommend this book.

Required reading for US foreign policy makers

I think every member of Congress and President Obama should be required to read this book. I consider it one of the most important books I've read in many, many years.

Clearing Misconceptions

We are plagued with a lot of sensationalist anti-religious propaganda today. This audiobook is a step in the right direction to correct a few misconceptions and provide true history away from sensationalism and ignorance.

Required Reading on religion and violence

Perhaps the most important piece of scholarship on religion and violence; impressive breadth; simply outstanding.

Good read

Her left political leaning was apparent during a few sections. Otherwise it was a good book, very historical

2023…this is even more relevant today..

I read this book back when it came out in 2014, and I reread just now… And what is happening over in Israel right now makes this book even more relevant than ever before in explaining what’s going on in the Middle East.… I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand religion and history with humanity…. or inhumanity. 

incredibly dense, but extremely eye-opening.

This is the second book I have read by Karen Armstrong. Both books did an unbelievable job of documenting the history that has lead to our current state of affairs in terms of religion. I found both books to also be so dense that they are at times very difficult to get through. There is simply so much information to try to get across in a short amount of time that Karen is forced to make each chapter packed to the brim with examples and context so that the reader can understand the message that she's trying to get across in each section. I walked away with this book with a newfound appreciation for history, and what it can teach us. I wish we learned stuff like this in School. It not only helps us understand so much about the past, but why the present is the way it is. As I was growing up, my history teachers always used to tell me that the reason we learned history was to prevent the mistakes of the past, but I never got even a fraction of the value out of those classes as I get out of a book like this. thank you so much for your work Karen, it's incredibly valuable. my only suggestion would be to try and make it a little more accessible. this book is a serious commitment, as was the other book I read by Karen. It takes a tremendous amount of time thought and energy to get through one of these books because there are no easy ideas and each historical example is so nuanced and complex that it requires a tremendous amount of concentration. in the introduction of Karen's other book that I read, the case for God, she addresses this concern directly, saying that this is not an easy book and religion is not an easy topic to discuss. I appreciate that, but I think one of the reasons we find ourselves in the state we are today is because we are having trouble communicating these complex ideas in a way that is accessible to the masses, and as a result we get an over simplified picture of the world and it's events. End of religion, for that matter so that would be my only request. that being said, you're up for the of reading this book, you will come out the other side as a better person.

Violence, State and Religion

Based on a careful appreciation of the origin and development of religious beliefs, Karen Armstrong makes the argument that religion is not inherently violent. Neither, she points out, the separation of religion and state contributes to an era of peace. Violence, she argues, springs from the desire of tribes and states to accumulate wealth (lands, goods and money). Religious beliefs, history shows, counterbalance these aspirations and provides an alternative meaning to human life, giving direction to human endeavors. In this book, Karen Armstrong gives special attention to the development of religion in the west, mostly to the interactions of christianity and europeans states. The story is fluent and well researched.

Shedding Light On The History Ov Violence

This Book should be a must read for all political leaders as well as modern citizens of the world. It's very much a history of the world seen through the lens of violence both secular and religious, and the relationship between the two whether in opposition to another or using one to justify the other.

Brilliant and important

Now we know WHY we are making enemies faster than we can kill them. The author shows how it all makes sense.