War and Our World [Paperback]

John Keegan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0375705201 | ISBN-13: 978-0375705205 | Publication Date: May 15, 2001 | Edition: 1st Vintage Books ed

John Keegan, widely considered the greatest military historian of our time and the author of acclaimed volumes on ancient and modern warfare--including, most recently, The First World War, a national bestseller--distills what he knows about the why’s and how’s of armed conflict into a series of brilliantly concise essays.

Is war a natural condition of humankind? What are the origins of war? Is the modern state dependent on warfare? How does war affect the individual, combatant or noncombatant? Can there be an end to war? Keegan addresses these questions with a breathtaking knowledge of history and the many other disciplines that have attempted to explain the phenomenon. The themes Keegan concentrates on in this short volume are essential to our understanding of why war remains the single greatest affliction of humanity in the twenty-first century, surpassing famine and disease, its traditional companions.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Keegan, bestselling historian of the First and Second World Wars, synthesizes his views on war and peace in this series of five lectures given in 1998 and now published as a set of essays. Drawing on a lifetime of study and writing, Keegan ranges widely over his subject, delving into the history of war, the character of a professional soldier, the diverse views of anthropologists on the origin of social violence, the advent of high-tech warfare and many other relevant issues. Keegan argues that war takes so many forms and mutates so rapidly that it is impossible to define precisely. The author's best descriptive definition is that war is "collective killing for some collective purpose." Today, Keegan believes, the most catastrophic form of war, the use of nuclear weapons, is unlikely to occur, although he does not address the recent entry of India and Pakistan, among other nations, into the nuclear club. Currently, war occurs most often in multiethnic, underdeveloped areas of the world and is driven by poverty, ideology and cultural insecurity. Keegan puts the death toll in the world's wars over the past 50 years at some 50 million. One practical suggestion he offers is to control the proliferation of assault rifles, whose low price, high rate of fire and nearly universal availability have made large-scale slaughter possible anywhere. War and Our World is replete with such insights and ideas, lucidly expressed by a master in his field. (June 1)Forecast: Michael Howard's equally succinct The Invention of Peace (Forecasts, Feb. 26) deals with a similar subject, but Keegan'sthanks to his reputation, in particular, the huge success of The First World War (Vintage, 2000), which sold more than 222,000 copies to become a New York Times bestsellerwill outsell it by far.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Popular military historian Keegan presents his 1998 Reith lectures for the BBC in a book that should only enlarge his readership. The twentieth century's wars seem to have affected every person on the planet because, until the current trend toward smaller, volunteer militaries, building huge armies by massive conscription meant that every man was potentially a soldier. Further, it seems that everyone has questioned whether war is intrinsic to human nature and whether it can be brought to an end. Keegan responds to those issues from a perspective steeped in world military history. He declares that it can't be decided whether war is a product of genetically ingrained human aggressiveness or is socially constructed. He is optimistic, however, that the waging of war will become more codified and that certain practices and weapons will be outlawed. Still, he gives peaceniks a cold bath, for he regards the project to eliminate war through progressive legal constriction as delusion. An astute discussion, mixing idealism and realism about its subject. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375705201
• ISBN-13: 978-0375705205
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #630,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lucid essays on the origin and evolution of war, August 26, 2002

By 

K Scheffler (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War and Our World (Paperback)

I'm not sure what some of the other reviewers had in mind when they decided to read this book. It is a slim volume--the text itself being only 74 pages and of a typeface that is fairly large--consisting of five lectures that Keegan was asked to present in 1998. These lectures simply overview the origin and role of war and how it has evolved over the millennia. Naturally, the author has a bias and focuses on wars that he is no doubt more familiar with. Sure there is nothing really groundbreaking in this book, but it is nevertheless a concise and lucid discussion of the subject, and I enjoyed reading it very much.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War and Our World, December 30, 2002

By 

Nathan Machula (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War and Our World (Paperback)

1 - War and Our World
2 - The Origins of War
3 - War and the State
4 - War and the Individual
5 - Can There Be an End to War?

This book is a transcript from a series of five lectures given by esteemed military historian, John Keegan. It is a short, but highly informative book; I read it in less than an hour.

The first four chapters are brilliant historical analysis. His insight into the toll and origins of war are invaluable. He explains well how war relates to the modern nation-state and individual, observing the increasing incidence of war-making by non-state actors.

However, when he diverges from history to try to answer the question of can we end war, he is less than prescient. I have a couple problems with the final chapter.

First, he seems eager to subjugate national sovereignty to the UN by asserting that war is now illegal, except in cases of self-defense or UN approval. That may be the case in Europe, but here in America, our constitution is still the supreme law of the land. It grants the office of commander-in-chief to the president and power to raise armies and declare war to the congress. Until the constitution is amended to read differently, the US reserves the sole right to determine the legality of our wars.

Second, his British sense of honour [sic] can be carried too far. He suggests subversion, sabotage, and assassination are less than honorable in warfare. Our special operations forces must use such tactics against assymetrical threats such as Al Qaeda terrorists.

Ultimately, I agree with the thesis of the chapter though: we must always retain the will and means to confront war and violence on equal, if not overwhelming, terms.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lectures Turned Essays Turned Wonderful Book, July 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: War and Our World (Paperback)

John Keegan is a brilliant military historian, a wonderful writer and has proved so in this very focused and thought provoking book. The book is quite short to begin with, yet it answers some of the most thought-provoking and questions on war that it would take a special author to provide the answers. John Keegan is that author and each chapter delivers focused and consice answers to questions like what are the origins of war? and how does war affect the soldier?

John Keegan also predicts what type of war, if any, that we may see in the future. All of his opinions are valid ones and backed by an endless bibliography. Keegan sites many battles, tactics and scientific studies to prove his points. Keegan displays a vast wealth of knowledge on war without actually delving into the battlefield itself.

The essays never go off to describe the horrors of battle-and rightfully so. That is not the point of the book. The point of the book is to allow to understand war's bigger picture through modern and ancient combat.

I read the book on one lazy afternoon, yet my knowledge of war spanned greatly. I highly recommend this book. You will be very satisfied by reading this book and the information within is very easy to remember. It is important knowledge that Keegan presented and knowledge that I will always retain.