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Gwynne Dyer War: The Lethal Custom
PUBLISHERS GROUP WEST 0786717718 / 9780786717712 Paperback BOOK
The classic modern text on the phenomenon of war. An award-winning book that explores the human past to imagine a different future. Illus; 6x9 inches, 496 pgs.
'While modern science ponders whether human beings are programmed toward belligerence and warfare, there is no doubt that war has been humanity's constant companion since the dawn of civilization, and that we have become all too proficient in its conduct.
In War, noted military historian Gwynne Dyer ranges from the tumbling walls of Jericho to the modern advent of total war in which no one is exempt from the horrors of armed conflict. He shows how the martial instinct has evolved over the human generations and among our close primate relations, such as the chimpanzee. Dyer squarely confronts the reality of war, and the threat of nuclear weapons, but does not despair that war is our eternal legacy. He likes and respects soldiers, even while he knows their job is to kill; he understands the physics and the psychology of battles, but he is no war junkie. Dyer surveys the fiery battlefields of human history, never losing sight of the people caught up in war. He actually believes there is hope that war can be abolished, that human beings are more than just our genes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Gwynne Dyer served in the Canadian, British, and American navies. He earned a Ph.D. in military history from the University of London and was a senior lecturer in war studies at the University of London and was a senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The original version of this book, published in 1985, won a Columbia University School of Journalism Award. A 7-part TV series based upon War was broadcast in 45 countries in the mid-1980s. Dyer writes a twice-weekly newspaper column on int'l affairs & security policy that is published in 175 newspapers worldwide. He lives in London with his wife and children.
Price:
15.60 USD
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Gwynne Dyer War: The Lethal Custom
PUBLISHERS GROUP WEST 0786715383 / 9780786715381 Hardcover BOOK
A brilliant, powerful, & lucid text on warfare that explores anthropology, archaeology, & strategic theory, while asking the vital question: Is war an inevitable part of the human future, or can we leave it behind, as we have slavery & human sacrifice? B&W photos, 66 B&W illus; notes, index. 6x9 inches, 496 pgs.
'While modern science ponders whether human beings are programmed toward belligerence and warfare, there is no doubt that war has been humanity's constant companion since the dawn of civilization and that we have become all too proficient in its conduct. In War, noted military historian and award-winning journalist Gwynne Dyer ranges from the tumbling walls of Jericho to the modern advent of total war. He shows how the martial instinct has evolved over the human generations and among our close primate relations. Dyer confronts the reality of war, and the threat of nuclear weapons, but does not despair that war is our eternal legacy. He likes and respects soldiers, even while he knows their job is to kill; he understands the physics and the psychology of battles, but is no war junkie. Dyer surveys the fiery battlefields of human history, never losing sight of the people caught up in war. He actually believes there is hope that war, like slavery, can be abolished. This brilliant book explores the human past to imagine a different future.
Abundantly illustrated, with sources from Egyptian pyramid paintings to searing photos from today's news magazines, War is a telling account of mankind's most destructive tradition.
EXCERPT FROM WAR:
An Ominous Beginning to a New Classic on the Phenomenon of War
The conclusion was getting hard to avoid even before the advent of nuclear weapons: the game of war is up, and we are going to have to change the rules if we are to survive. The brief, one-sided campaigns of well-armed Western countries against dysfunctional Third World autocracies kill in the tens of thousands, and the genocidal ethnic conflicts of fragile post-colonial states are local tragedies, but during the last two years of World War II, over one million people were being killed each month. If the great powers were to go to war with one another just once more, using all the weapons they now have, a million people could die each minute. They have no current intention of doing that, but so long as the old structures survive, Big War is not dead. It is just on holiday.
The soldier was one of the first inventions of civilization, and he has changed remarkably little over the five thousand years or so that real armies have existed. The teenage Iranian volunteers stumbling across minefields east of Basra in 1984 or the doomed British battalions going over the top in the July Drive over the Somme in 1916 were taking part in the same sacrifice and slaughter that destroyed the young men of Rome at Cannae in 216 BC. The emotions, the odds, and the outcome were fundamentally the same. Battle, the central act of civilized warfare, is a unique event in which ordinary men willingly kill and die as though those extraordinary actions were normal and acceptable. Changes in weapons and tactics have not altered those essential elements of its character.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Gwynne Dyer served in the Canadian, British, & American navies. He earned a Ph.D. in military history from the University of London, & was a senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The original version of this book, published in 1985, won the Columbia University School of Journalism Award. A seven-part television series based upon War was broadcast in 45 countries in the mid-1980s; one of the episodes was nominated for an Academy Award. Dyer writes a twice-weekly newspaper column on international affairs that is published by 175 newspapers in 40 countries. He lives in London with his wife and children.
Price:
23.40 USD
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