The author Richard Rhodes studied the findings of a criminologist named Lonnie Athens and decided that for the good of mankind he would publish some of Athens’ findings in his book, Why They Kill. Athens had decided to study criminology while attending Virginia Tech with his best friend Mike Markowitz. But Athens’ life was not any easy one. His father had been in the army and because they were Greek, a minority in a dominantly white America, he was very violent. Petros Athens “had a bold demeanor: Bring it on if you want, and if you want don’t, fine. He had grown up in Pennsylvania, where his father had been a brickyard worker and a professional wrestler-a brutal, hard-core, hand-to-mouth peasant from Sparta.” He would beat his wife and his sons mercilessly; he put his wife in the hospital on a few occasions. Athens had an older brother and older and younger sisters and a younger brother. Everyone was afraid of Pete. When Athens started high school, however, he would not allow his father to beat him anymore. Once he threatened to throw bricks at his father if he tried to hurt him. Athens’ savior was his maternal grandfather, Lombros Zaharias, whom everyone called Pops. Pops disapproved of Pete’s violence and told him once, “We’re not here to beat up people, we’re here to make money. I’ve had enough of this crap about Greek pride. If you have money you have pride. You don’t have any pride if you don’t have any damn money. What the hell are you doing? You want to be a wrestler, become a professional wrestler.” Athens worked hard in school with the encouragement of Pops and made it to Virginia Tech where he decided to major in sociology with a focus on criminology. “Violence is the Minotaur; those who survive it spend their lives threading its maze, looking for the exit.” Athens was caught in this maze. He didn’t know what to do to get out, until during a lecture one day. “ I was sitting there listening to the lecture, and I just snapped. I thought, Wow, I know about this! I’ve had first hand experience with this. I could do something here. I’ve got something to contribute. I was always puzzled about violence. In my house. In my neighborhood. I wondered why it happened. I wondered why people did it. I wondered why no one did anything about it.” Athens went on to study criminology on a full scholarship at the University of Wisconsin because his parents could not afford to pay for him. This is where he met his mentor Marshall Clinard, who helped him along his path. Athens has spent his life observing violent behavior and coming up with explanations as to why the person acts the way he does. For example, Athens studied Michael Gerard Tyson’s usage of violence against Alexander Holyfield in the boxing match where Tyson bit of pieces of Holyfield’s ears. “ ‘From Tyson’s point of view,’ Athens had speculated, ‘if Holyfield had won the fight by breaking the rules and Tyson had lost the fight by following the rules, then Tyson would look like a punk. He thought Holyfield had reverted to street rules-use as much violence as you need to win-so he should revert to street rules too. He may have lost the fight, but by street rules he won-he scared Holyfield out of the ring.’ ‘What’s irrational’, Athens added ‘ is putting violent guys in the ring together and expecting them to limit their violence to the rules.’” Athens has dedicated his whole life to finding answers to the questions that he and other non-violent human beings have. In Why They Kill, he addresses many of these issues, and because he was a victim of violence at an early age, he can understand the minds behind the violent actions. This book is very interesting and offers a one-of-a-kind insight into the minds of criminals. "