FT.com / Books / Non-Fiction - Force of nature

To read Robert Muchembled’s compelling history of violence is to understand how deeply flawed this popular narrative is – and to appreciate that the “good old days” were often far more appalling. Violent impulses have been a permanent and universal feature of our lives since the dawn of time. But what have constantly changed are the ways in which political and religious leaders have sought to inflame or restrain them.

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The statistics Muchembled cites are striking. The number of murders per year is just one per 100,000 in Europe today and six in the US. In 14th-century Europe it was estimated at 130 per 100,000. Yet some aspects of violence have remained constant over seven centuries: 90 per cent of murders are committed by men, most of them younger than 30, and southern Europe has always had a higher incidence of violence than in the north, giving some credence to the popular image of a hot-blooded Latin male.

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