Friendless Childhoods Explain War, by Bob Johnson

Author: Bob Johnson. Review by Tim Newell

Our friend Bob Johnson has produced something here that delights our sensitivities, and challenges our assumptions about international affairs. We expect Bob to be making connections, and we’ve certainly got that here. Reading though this short book made me stop, and stare, and think. In the end it made so much sense that I had a feeling of elation at understanding some of the critical events in history.

Bob’s remarkable work in Parkhurst Prison, with the most dangerous prisoners held in custody, led him to realise that his creative work could only be progressed by establishing the principles of truth, trust, and consent. Through this experience, Bob realised that, when looking at international conflict, parallels could be drawn with the experience of the men he had worked with. The violence within international relationships begins, he understood, in the childhood experiences that lead to adult anger, grievance, and revenge.

Using professional records, Bob takes us through Mein Kampf, George Orwell, and Shakespeare, to show us how negative experiences in childhood can lead to unspeakable adult acts of violence, even war. This is an important insight for us today. Bob warns us that no one is safe (or sane) unless we are all safe (or sane).

Examining international conflict, Bob asserts that all such violence is born in a childhood of trauma. The resulting anger, grievance and revenge instil seeds of hatred that continue into adulthood. Through this, he explains comes Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Bob shares his work with serial killers, including clinical data, and reflects a lifetime of investigation and application.

These wonderful insights challenge and surprise us. They are based on experience, compassion, and a delight in life.

In the preface, Bob explains why he regards war and killing as a disease. Through his unpacking of traumas observed on Parkhurst’s C Wing, he has moved to consider international conflict in the light of ferocious personal emotions. His insight, through extensive study, is that ‘friendless childhoods explain warring adults’. Hitler is cited, describing his appalling childhood.

Bob is concerned about our continued muddled thinking. ‘Covid, Cancer, Climate Change, Crime, Corruption and Conflict’ all contribute to the complexity and riskiness of our situation.

Bob concludes with a lovely focus on smiling. He asks us to approach a mirror and smile at ourselves. Analysing that smile reveals a lot, and it can be done until the instigation becomes spontaneous. A real smile is instantaneous, and life changing.

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