Over the last three decades the historian Gabriel Kolko has redefined the way we look at modern warfare and its social and political effects. Century of War gives us a masterly synthesis of the effects of war on civilian populations and the political results of these traumatizing experiences in the twentieth century.
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An intensely rich book. . . the clarity of Kolko's vision emerges from a careful reading, as does the importance of what he has to say. -- The American Academy of Political and Social Science
Century of War is at once an extremely ambitious, eloquent, timely, and engaging volume. -- The Canadian Historical Review
The totality of his argument is persuasive. I hope that many leaders and formers of public opinion will take the trouble to read this book, as it makes a crucial contribution to thinking about the realities of war and its aftermath. -- Toronto Globe and Mail
This provocative work will engage general readers as well as specialists. -- Publishers Weekly
Century of War is at once an extremely ambitious, eloquent, timely, and engaging volume. -- The Canadian Historical Review
The totality of his argument is persuasive. I hope that many leaders and formers of public opinion will take the trouble to read this book, as it makes a crucial contribution to thinking about the realities of war and its aftermath. -- Toronto Globe and Mail
This provocative work will engage general readers as well as specialists. -- Publishers Weekly
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful
In the front cover blurb, Noam Chomsky writes that "Gabriel Kolko's review of this century's 'tragic monumental experiences' provides sharp insight into the conflicts of these terrible years, their social setting, and their legacy. It's lessons are both sobering and invaluable."
Far from being a didactic review of 20th Century warfare, the lessons that Kolko proffers in "Century of War" amount to nothing more than adhering to the spirit and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was unanimously adopted by the UN soon after WWII. Here's a taste of some of Gabriel Kolko's sober and invaluabe insights into how an era of tranquility might be constructed and the forces (liberal economics/modern state-capitalism) that are ultimately responsible for this century of destruction:
g...there is nothing in the current momentary hegemony of the ideology of market economics in the ex-Communist world and formerly statist Third World countries that can create permanent tranquility. So-called liberal economics caters exclusively to the needs of individuals rather than to common interests and shared group relations in a civil society that poses essential restraints on peoplefs freedom to exploit and asserts public over private interests. Liberal economicsf devotion to personal egotism and avarice as the fundamental basis of social organization has been a persistent source of misery and societal instability since the school of thought was founded two hundred years ago. Economic liberals have no inherent commitment to political freedom and human rights, and suffer from the stigma of having repeatedly abandoned civil liberties... in order to preserve their individual privileges... g
gThe future of mankind and the very existence of rational civilization and human relations are hostage to this state of affairs, and the morality and desirability of todayfs dominant social systems are linked directly to the issue of war and peace.h
gRadical opposition will inevitably reemerge as long as the political and economic crises so characteristic of the nations of the world as they now exist continue... But the basic premise that while society owes everyone a reasonable material minimum, individuals in turn also have to have a constant duty to weave significant networks of social cooperation and interaction, is no less vital. Social responsibility that operates reciprocally between a society and its members has hardly been considered in the general socialist literature, but it remains a precondition for the emergence of a more rational human organization, and above all of truly radical politics based on changing both society and people-and thereby the world.h
"Century of War" is a superb analysis of the causes and effects of modern warfare and its effects on rational civilization. An invaluable contribution to the history of human civilization.
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