Fools, Martyrs, Traitors: The Story of Martyrdom in the Western World (CUSA)

This is a very good book that deserves a higher sales ranking and a better review than it has at the moment. What Smith does is compile a very eclectic set of martyr stories, illustrating the facts that (1) not all martyrs are religiously motivated and (2) not all martyrs are nice people. Some ARE blood-thirsty killers. And it is not the cause that makes someone a martyr. It is two important things: absolute certainty that the martyr is right and everyone else is wrong, and a belief that martyrdom somehow makes the cause more noble. Both of these facts are scary. As Smith states more than once, the martyr is the ultimate egotist: he/she is right, the world is wrong, and he/she is showing the world something with his/her self-sacrifice. But that cannot be true: there have been lots of martyrs for lots of causes--in fact, even diametrically opposed causes. The Allies who died in World War II could call themselves martyrs for freedom, and the Nazis who died could call themselves martyrs for Nazism or Germany. Who decides who is a martyr...and what cause is noble? The martyr is in the additional tricky position of wanting and needing to die without APPEARING to want to die. That is just suicide. The martyr must think that death is perhaps avoidable, and also that death will mean a greater success than life could have accomplished. It is a fine line to walk, one that ultimately not only fails but is contradictory. People who respect martyrs, or who want to be martyrs, should read this book. Also, read my new "Violence and Culture" (Wadsworth 2005), that puts martyrdom and other forms of ideological violence in perspective. And remember, terrorists often think of themselves as martyrs, and martyrs often think of the ones who kill them as terrorists.