cover image Faces of the Enemy: Reflections of the Hostile Imagination

Faces of the Enemy: Reflections of the Hostile Imagination

Sam Keen. HarperCollins Publishers, $60 (199pp) ISBN 978-0-06-250471-5

Each nation seeks to justify warfare by creating a monstrous image of its enemy. Killing is made a source of pride, murder a patriotic duty; war becomes a holy war ""with God on our side.'' Keen (The Passionate Life uses political posters and cartoons to demonstrate that belligerent countries have consistently characterized the enemy as aggressor, barbarian, devil, rapist, insect, germ. Noting that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. need to view one another as evil, he urges a massive overhaul of fixed postures and attitudes. His ``potpourri of possibilities'' to eradicate deep-seated hate and fear ranges from cultural exchanges to divestment of empires (ours and theirs). Illustrated with color and black-and-white art, this original probe of the root causes of war offers a new perspective on ways to thaw the Cold War. The book is a tie-in with a PBS television series. 25,000 ad/promo; author tour. (May 21)