Paul C. Morrow - Unconscionable crimes: How Norms Explain and Constrain Mass Atrocities

Although this book is addressed to human cruelty, it attests to human kindness. The support of many individuals and institutions allowed me to complete this study amid the ups and downs of academic life. Although I cannot here name everyone who has assisted me in my work, I want to thank the following mentors, colleagues, and sponsors for their generous help.

This book was made possible in part by funds granted through a Raab Family Foundation Fellowship at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The statements made and views expressed within are, of course, solely my own responsibility. I am especially grateful to the Emerging Scholars Program at the Mandel Center for its support in the preparation of the manuscript and book proposal.

Additional financial support for the research underlying this book came from a New Horizons Travel Grant and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Grant from the University of Virginia, as well as a George J. Graham Jr. Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. An intense fortnight at the Holocaust Education Foundations Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University sharpened my thinking and established new friendships. I am especially grateful to Peter Hayes and Sarah Cushman for directing this program and to Theodore Zev Weiss and Alice R. Weiss for founding it.

Librarians and archivists at Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, Utrecht University, the Bodleian Library, the British Library, Royal Holloway, the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies, the Peace Palace Library, the Library of Congress, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum provided access to the primary and secondary sources I employed in this study. Ron Coleman, Rebecca Erbelding, Vincent Slatt, and Megan Lewis of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museums Library and Archives gave particularly valuable guidance during an early phase of this project and continued their support long after my residence in Washington came to an end.

Other members of the staff at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies furnished material and intellectual assistance. Conversations with Jo-Ellyn Decker, Emil Kerenji, Jrgen Matthus, and Suzanne Brown-Fleming substantially aided my work. Among my fellow visiting scholars, Mark Celinscak and Istvan Pal Adam have proved deeply inspiring friends. Special thanks go to Steve Feldman, whose patience watching this book develop was matched only by his confidence that it would one day be complete.

Teachers and colleagues at three universities have helped shape this project in its various phases. At Vanderbilt University, Lucius Outlaw, Marilyn Friedman, Jeffrey Tlumak, and Jos Medina taught me how to think like a philosopher, while Mona Frederick and Edward Friedman encouraged my tendency toward interdisciplinarity. Rob Talisse challenged me at a crucial stage to say what exactly I meant by the word explanation; his question has critically informed the text that follows. Larry May proved the ideal dissertation supervisor and offered unstinting support during the completion of this book.

At the University of Virginia, Colin Bird, George Klosko, Jennifer Rubenstein, and Murad Idris supplied helpful comments on various chapters while I was writing them. Jim Childress kindly allowed me to sit in on his Just War Theory seminar, and Gaby Finder, Jennifer Geddes, and Asher Biemann welcomed me into their Jewish studies reading group. My fellow postdocs Brookes Brown, Shruta Swarup, and Chris Berk offered trenchant readings of individual chapters, while Liya Yu delivered inimitable criticism of the project as a whole.

After an unplanned (and unfunded) career detour to the Netherlands, I had the good fortune to be included in the Ethics Institute Seminar Series hosted by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University. Ingrid Robeyns graciously devoted time and energy to ensuring that I could continue my research, while Colin Hickey and Uur ngr helped me feel included in Utrechts scholarly community. Well-timed visits from Shannon Fyfe and Neal Palmer brightened the gray North Sea winter. Friends and colleagues at Utrecht in Dialoog facilitated lively conversations about many topics entirely unrelated to atrocity.

Some academic debts are all the more substantial because the institutional ties that normally underpin them are absent. In my case, I owe Colleen Murphy particular thanks; she has kindly read and commented on multiple chapters in this book while sharing her own expert perspective on the theory and practice of transitional justice. Berel Lang and Noah Shenker also provided valuable feedback despite their own busy careers. Sven-Erik Rose first fostered these concerns more than a dozen years ago and has maintained an interest in my work for all that time.

Along with these individuals, I thank audiences at the University of Virginia, Utrecht University, the University of Glasgow, Collegio Ghislieri in Pavia, Tilburg University, the University of Minnesota, Western Galilee College, the University of Dayton, and the University of Southern California for listening to portions of this book while it was in preparation.

No academic work wholly escapes the personal. In my case, family support has been crucial. My parents, Lee and Becky, kept faith in this project even when it carried me across the Atlantic. My brothers, Ed and Brian, and my sister-in-law, Theresa, provided hospitality during successive research trips to Washington DC, while my brother-in-law, Matt, joined me on a memorable visit to Berlin. Ann Smith and Beryl Parrington gave me uncommon support, fully welcoming me into their Scotch-Coloradan family. Finally, my partner, Megan, has made this book all it is and showed me what it could be.

Part of the material in chapter 1 appeared previously in Genocide Studies and Prevention under the title The Thesis of Norm Transformation in the Theory of Mass Atrocity (vol. 9, no. 1, 2015). I thank the editors of the journal for their permission to reprint this material.