Bøker av David Lester

A graphic exploration of action, resistance, and radicalism among eighteenth-century pirates

The revolutionary life of an eighteenth-century dwarf activist who was among the first to fight against slavery and animal cruelty

This book explores the role of culture in explaining suicidal behaviour. Explanations based on the genes and physiology of individuals, and theories based on psychological variables have difficulty explaining the suicide rate of societies, as well as the occurrence of suicide in individuals. This book illustrates the strong role of culture in determining the suicide rate of societies by looking at the role of the major religion of a society, in particular, Islam, as well as national differences in suicide rates, and the variation of suicide rates within a nation (for example, over the states of the USA). Descriptions of suicidal behaviour in some groups are provided, including African American slaves in the 1700s and 1800s, Siberian indigenous peoples, and the Roma. Cultural scripts for suicide are described, such as seppuku, sati, and victim-precipitated homicide, and types of suicide in which the staging of the suicidal act is determined by the culture. Finally, it is argued that, not only does culture have an impact on the suicide rate of a society, but also that culture is the primary determinant of the staging of the suicidal act, that is, the location chosen for suicide (for example, at home versus away from home), the method chosen for suicide, the clothes worn, the motive for the suicidal act, and other choices that the would-be suicide has to make.

Refutes the idea that a human being has a single unified self. Instead, David Lester argues, the mind is made up of multiple selves, and this is a normal psychological phenomenon. Lester expands on his earlier work on the phenomenon, illuminating how a "multiple-self theory of the mind" is critically necessary to understanding human behaviour.

Suicide-proofing a room can prevent suicidal behaviour in incarcerated prisoners and in psychiatric patients. This book addresses the question whether suicide-proofing the general environment prevents suicide in the general population.

Aims to explore the phenomena of the low suicide rate in the concentration camps during the Holocaust, and why its survivors seem to become susceptible to suicide, as they grow older. This book explores this area of history by the case study method utilising the biographies of famous survivors.

The book of suicidal behaviour has been truly interdisciplinary.