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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Grossman in Chapter 1, why is it easy for the wealthy to oppress the poor without feeling guilt?

2. What do most historians agree was the key to the Roman military model's success?

3. In Chapter 1, Grossman cites a study which says vets are most likely to fire when?

4. In the Crimean War anecdote in Chapter 1, what do the soldiers do when confronted with an enemy at ten paces?

5. During World War I, what was the favored weapon of American servicemen for killing enemy combatants?

Short Essay Questions

1. What inefficiency of edged-weapon combat does Grossman reveal in Chapter 5?

2. As described in Chapter 2, why are snipers given the cold shoulder in the military?

3. What options are open to soldiers in combat?

4. Describe the metaphor Grossman uses for fortitude in Chapter 6?

5. How does the Yale electroshock study connect with Grossman's thesis in Chapter 1?

6. What does hard-to-soft mean?

7. How did military predictions regarding civilian bombings and psychiatric casualties prove completely wrong in World War II?

8. What societal and moral tenets cause guilt in an individual who has killed in a war?

9. What surprising fact regarding soldier's fears in combat is revealed in Chapter 2?

10. What factors contribute to group absolution?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Near the end of ON KILLING, Dave Grossman turns his concern from military policy to policy related to the private sector, particularly the entertainment industry. Write an essay in three parts about the recommendations Dave Grossman makes regarding the world of entertainment:

Part 1) What does Dave Grossman have to say about the world of print media? Does he think that it has any effect on the youth of America, one way or another? Based upon this opinion, does Grossman suggest any major alteration to the way it goes about delivering its product?

Part 2) What recommendation does Grossman make regarding the film industry and television? Discuss the dueling concerns that the author acknowledges these industries have and the responsibilities they share. What defense does he offer against shouts that he is censoring art with these recommendations?

Part 3) In summing up his arguments regarding the entertainment industry, why is Grossman confident that these changes will go into effect? Does he think the public will demand them, and why? How does reformation constitute a public emergency in his opinion?

Essay Topic 2

Much of the last part of ON KILLING deals with comparing the way the military conditions soldiers and media conditions young people in America. Write an essay charting and analyzing this comparison. What are the means of traditional and conditioning in either arena? How do the authorities of the military training compare to those that young people in America listen to? What finer points does military training place on conditioning that the media in civilian life does not?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the root causes and addressing of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the American military? What step of the killing process is interrupted, leading to PTSD, and what factors are involved in this stunting of emotional processing? How does PTSD manifest itself? In what conflict did numbers of soldiers suffering from PTSD skyrocket? How long did it take the American military to address this concern, and what has been done?

(see the answer keys)

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