Read the book “Collision of Wills” by Roger Gould, “The Great Leveler” by Walter Scheidel, and “Violence” Randall Collins.
Then imagine Roger Gould, Walter Scheidel, and Randall Collins walk into a bar walk into a bar…
Your task is to imagine an argument between these three authors, each critiquing the others’ works. They cover different topics, but their theories are intended to be general, so where do they disagree? You might consider settings not covered by any of the books, and try to apply each author’s theory to that setting. For example, if Collins is right, what should we expect to see on school playgrounds? And do we actually see that?
It’s OK to be creative here–you can write this as you would a play, if that helps. Papers will be evaluated based on how well and accurately they apply each author’s arguments to critique other authors, and how well they apply these ideas to new contexts. Avoid summary of the books.
