On February 11, 2002, Iranians celebrated the twenty-third anniversary of their Islamic Revolution. While marching through the streets of Tehran they burned American flags and shouted “Death to America!” Said one woman, “I didn't hate Bush before, but now I really hate him” (Peterson, 2002).

What made the Iranian demonstrators behave in this way? Do they hate the United States and all Americans? Or do they hate only President Bush? Are they angry because they believe that the United States influences their domestic affairs and has weakened the moderate reformers? Are they moved in the first place by fear of a foreign power that seems, to them, to oppose the Muslim world, and that has passed up opportunities for a detente between the two countries? Or is it perhaps a combination of all these feelings? It is difficult to determine what feelings drove the protestors' behavior. Most likely, they experienced many different emotions, which does not pose a problem per se, unless one wishes to study such emotions and behavior scientifically. In this case, one somehow needs to isolate and define each of them.

In this book, we want to reflect upon various conceptions of the experience of hatred (see also Oppenheimer, 2005; Sternberg, 2005), from the time it is born (Akhtar & Kramer, 1995) to the time, hopefully, it dies. We will discuss how people can become, metaphorically, prisoners of hate (Beck, 1999; Beck & Pretzer, 2005), and how hate can spiral into violence (Gaylin, 2003).