The End of Violence

We often talk about violence as if it were a disease – something that infects communities and spreads until it becomes an epidemic. So, what if we treated it that way? Could we slow it down? Could we even find a cure?

Drawing on decades spent fighting infectious disease before founding Cure Violence Global, Dr Gary Slutkin shows that violence behaves like any other epidemic – it spreads through exposure, but it can also be interrupted, contained, and ultimately eliminated. By treating violence as a contagious illness rather than a moral failing, he reveals how communities around the world have begun to heal themselves by following the basic epidemic playbook. These methods have dramatically reduced or eliminated violence in communities in the US, Latin America, and around the world.

With clear-sighted pragmatism, The End of Violence uncovers the invisible logic of violence – and how it works on our brains and bodies – offering an inspiring and time-tested roadmap for our recovery. Incisive, far-reaching, and profoundly hopeful, it challenges the idea that violence is inevitable and shows us a concrete way to a more peaceful world.