War representations deal with cruelty, perpetrators, victims, and their emotions: grief, outrage, anger, or hatred. They often aim to evoke similar emotions in their recipients. However, they can fail in this regard: even violence in anti-war scenarios can inadvertently have an exhilarating effect. The key factor is how the victims are characterized - as friends or as enemies. Jan Süselbeck analyzes the emotional effects of literature since Heinrich von Kleist and Leo N. Tolstoy, as well as the anti-war film genre from Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front to Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The study examines how public reactions to depictions of violence have changed from the 19th century to the torture scandal of Abu Ghraib and its reception on the internet. The book offers an emotional-scientific history.