The 20th century has been scrred by political violence and genocide, reaching its extreme in the Holocaust. Yet, at the same time, the century has been marked by a growing committment to human rights. The volume highlights the importance of history - of socially processed memory - in resolving the wounds left by massive state-sponsored political violence and in preventing future episodes of violence. Here, the editors define and discuss popular historical memory; explore collective versus individual memory; and examine te uses and abuses of history and memory. The book also treats a wide variety of incidents of collective violence - from decades long genocide to short-lived massacres and presents case studies from Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.