War Machine: The Rationalisation of Slaughter in the Modern Age - Hardcover

Pick, Mr. Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300054173 ISBN 13: 9780300054170

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Pick (history, U. of London) traces the history of modern thought on the nature of military conflict, bringing together philosophical and historical models of war with fictions of invasions, propaganda, interpretations of shellshock, the relationship between machinery and destruction, and speculations about the biological value of conquest the pervasive European belief that war is beneficial or at least functionally necessary. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

About this title

From Library Journal:

Pick (history, Univ. of London) offers a comprehensive and stimulating overview of the changing perception of war in 19th-century European culture and politics. He shows that war was theorized on one hand as vibrant and natural, reviving the life force of societies made effete by industrial civilization. That same civilization, however, enhanced war's potential to slip out of control, becoming a "driverless train" capable of negating the heroic virtues it purported to foster. A particular strength of Pick's work is its demonstration of Germany's emergence as an archetype of the "warfare state" combining modern technology with atavistic impulses. Useful too, albeit obscured by deconstructionist jargon, is Pick's critique of the thesis that World War I was a watershed in establishing the modern idea of war. The 19th century, he argues, established the terms and the language of a debate that is still with us. Recommended for scholarly collections.
- D.E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colordado Springs
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0300054173
• ISBN 13: 9780300054170
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 300