War (Oxford Readers) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192892541 ISBN 13: 9780192892546

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 1994

Synopsis

War, despite its indisputably horrific nature, has shaped the international system, prompted social and technological change, and inspired the arts. This insightful book captures fully the ubiquitous and multifaceted character of war, featuring accounts by generals, soldiers, historians, strategists, and poets, who consider conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to Bosnia. Firsthand accounts vividly evoke the French infantry experience at Waterloo, a Union-Confederate skirmish at Gettysburg, the reflections of a German seaman at Jutland, one civilian's impressions of the Blitz, the trials of a Japanese doctor in the wake of the Atom Bomb's obliteration of Nagasaki, the confusion of Vietnam, and more. A broad range of questions are addressed: What are the causes of war? Which strategic as well as moral principles guide its conduct, and how have these changed? Has total war become unthinkable? What is the nature of contemporary conflict? How is war experienced by those on the front line? With contributions by leading scholars, and edited by one the most oft-quoted and prolific of military experts, this reader offers a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of one of humankind's oldest and most controversial preoccupations.

About this title

About the Author:

Lawrence Freeman is Professor of War Studies, Kings College, London. He is frequently interviewed about war issues and writes regularly for The Times.

Review:

'This prose anthology of war is a delight for specialists and general readers alike. It works particularly well for dippers like myself. I found I was opening it at random, reading a couple of essays, becoming absorbed, reading more, opening at another point, repeating the process and so on.
I shall return to it many times in the future.'
Sir Anthony Parsons International Relations Vol XII No 2 Aug '94

'Collections of extracts about war in general or particular wars are nothing new, but this one seems original in its attempted comprehensiveness. It is called an "Oxford Reader", and it will no doubt make a very serviceable one for students the whole world over.'
Times Literary Supplement

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0192892541
• ISBN 13: 9780192892546
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 385
• Editor: Freedman Lawrence