Altruism, Intergroup Apology, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation

Samuel Oliner

9781557788788

328 pages

Paragon House

Paperback / softback $19.95

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Overview

"In reading this book I was captivated not only by the thoughtfulness of Sam Oliner's reasoning but also by the realization that it was written by one who personally suffered the ravages of the Holocaust. Orphaned, hunted, and terrorized for three years as a Jewish adolescent in Poland, Oliner demonstrates the remarkable ability to emerge from the darkness to shed light on the world of healing and to strive to improve the human condition for all." Robert Krell, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Canada, and Holocaust Survivor This book focuses on intergroup apology and its outcome. Over one hundred apologies have been made recently by leaders or groups to those they have harmed. Altruism, Intergroup Apology, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation offers examples such as truth and reconciliation commissions and also the recent example of Polish-Ukrainian leaders offering mutual apologies for a massacre that both groups inflicted on one another. Using cases that show a positive outcome, this hopeful book provides empirical evidence that there is a positive relationship between altruism, apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation.