Wenn Tiere kämpfen und Menschen Kriege führen

Boris Cyrulnik grew up in southern France as the child of a Ukrainian father and a Polish mother, living with his aunt. His parents, both Jewish, were killed in Auschwitz during World War II. After the war, he was placed in an orphanage, where contact with a dog helped him survive the emotional desert. He began to understand the human psyche better by studying animals.

The author, now a renowned neuropsychiatrist, draws on a wealth of knowledge and clinical experience. He compares animals and humans and reaches the following conclusions: children with emotional deficits are at risk of becoming violent adults. Human civilization, a source of creativity, also brings forth the horrors of aggression and war. Through his combined exploration of the human soul and civilization on one side and the animal world on the other, Cyrulnik allows us to feel and understand the violence in the world and the roots of war. He presents a masterful work in which one discovers a scientist behind the storyteller and sage.