Buy new:
-15% $33.97
Delivery Tuesday, July 30
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: RoseBookz
$33.97 with 15 percent savings
List Price: $40.00

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
FREE International Returns
No Import Fees Deposit & $17.53 Shipping to Finland Details

Shipping & Fee Details

Price $33.97
AmazonGlobal Shipping $17.53
Estimated Import Fees Deposit $0.00
Total $51.50

Delivery Tuesday, July 30. Order within 11 hrs 57 mins
Or fastest delivery Thursday, July 18
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$33.97 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$33.97
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
Sold by
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$7.69
FREE International Returns
Used - Acceptable: All pages and the cover are intact, but shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may include limited notes, highlighting, or minor water damage but the text is readable. Item may but the dust cover may be missing. This could possibly be an ex-library book. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, but the text cannot be obscured or unreadable. It is possible that this is an ex-library book. Used - Acceptable: All pages and the cover are intact, but shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may include limited notes, highlighting, or minor water damage but the text is readable. Item may but the dust cover may be missing. This could possibly be an ex-library book. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, but the text cannot be obscured or unreadable. It is possible that this is an ex-library book. See less
Delivery Tuesday, July 30
Or fastest delivery Wednesday, July 17. Order within 11 hrs 42 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$33.97 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$33.97
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Other sellers on Amazon
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Future of War: A History Hardcover – October 10, 2017

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 276 ratings

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$33.97","priceAmount":33.97,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"33","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"97","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Ky5doKc7j9qdZaJ83PNyclvh9Awu6Hvo7hOVkPaFsDJWYK2%2BuUm%2F2%2B1riK%2BXt8t6HlswKOzxYa9Ck6iNTqky%2F9cL59dFZ4gnOMAoXfXUwe%2F%2BoowpoQfrMBCtCyMf%2FGkHoycgbX%2FILCu%2B2xjWb8X6h6uW1cN6VdUYV%2FqXNgdLXe7JxBObqp2akR%2BxH1FJMqq1","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$7.69","priceAmount":7.69,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"69","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Ky5doKc7j9qdZaJ83PNyclvh9Awu6HvoBaijZYj9nBbjlGwqNAs75PmmWPkI8Zfj6%2FW%2FnfjSuRoZ%2BGZ65Ni0gLYKNjo1itFq8S5Fen6qfod08ebrD9n%2BP9jPb7GH0bt6cQjpUVY6rtT0hOgriN4lJrtmJG29vUR0crovuKfeEp880X%2Ba7QVOsMxz5Yvea7HY","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

An award-winning military historian, professor, and political adviser delivers the definitive story of warfare in all its guises and applications, showing what has driven and continues to drive this uniquely human form of political violence.

Questions about the future of war are a regular feature of political debate, strategic analysis, and popular fiction. Where should we look for new dangers? What cunning plans might an aggressor have in mind? What are the best forms of defense? How might peace be preserved or conflict resolved?

From the French rout at Sedan in 1870 to the relentless contemporary insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, Lawrence Freedman, a world-renowned military thinker, reveals how most claims from the military futurists are wrong. But they remain influential nonetheless.

Freedman shows how those who have imagined future war have often had an idealized notion of it as confined, brief, and decisive, and have regularly taken insufficient account of the possibility of long wars-hence the stubborn persistence of the idea of a knockout blow, whether through a dashing land offensive, nuclear first strike, or cyberattack. He also notes the lack of attention paid to civil wars until the West began to intervene in them during the 1990s, and how the boundaries between peace and war, between the military, the civilian, and the criminal are becoming increasingly blurred.

Freedman's account of a century and a half of warfare and the (often misconceived) thinking that precedes war is a challenge to hawks and doves alike, and puts current strategic thinking into a bracing historical perspective.

Frequently bought together

$33.97
Get it as soon as Friday, Aug 2
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by RoseBookz and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
$21.09
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$21.84
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Control
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Lawrence Freedman's Strategy: A History

"[Freedman's] books manage to delight the experts yet are still comprehensible to the general reader, a rare skill in this genre. On this occasion, he has produced what is arguably the best book ever written on strategy." --
Washington Post

"Magisterial... wide-ranging erudition and densely packed argument."
--
The Economist

"This is a book of startling scope, erudition and, more than anything, wisdom." --
Financial Times

"Lawrence Freedman shows here why he is justly renowned as one of the world's leading thinkers about strategy, which he defines as the central art of getting more out of a situation than the starting balance of power would suggest." --Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University and author of
The Future of Power

"This substantial, comprehensive, hermeneutic work examines the various dimensions and history of "strategy," which Freedman defines as "the art of creating power"...this very ambitious exploration provides readers with a useful introduction to the field of strategic studies." --
CHOICE

"Freedman consistently brings the discussion down to real cases, covering a wide range of history and geography. The final section, which considers the place of gang warfare and civil unrest in many parts of the world and the likely role of China in future conflicts, is especially thought-provoking. The author's lively style adds to the interest for general readers. A valuable book for anyone interested in international affairs."―
Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The one thing that Sir Lawrence is sure of is that predictions of future war rarely get it right. His message to policymakers is to beware those who tout 'the ease and speed with which victory can be achieved while underestimating the resourcefulness of adversaries'. Anybody who thinks otherwise should read this book."―
The Economist

"[An] engaging survey of how and why historians and writers--of nonfiction, fiction and film--bravely prognosticate. The theme is scholarly, but the tone is refreshingly popular: Tom Clancy makes the index, but von Clausewitz does not."―
Army Times

"The work is extremely well written and an erudite product produced by a renowned military theorist. It should, without reservation, be considered a welcome addition to both the personal library of the more seasoned scholar as well as that of the senior level officer."―
Parameters

"Innovative... Readers who spend their time with either tech-driven science fiction or RAND analyses should put them aside for a while and read this thought-provoking book on the power of ideas in shaping the future of grand strategy."―
Lawfare

About the Author

Lawrence Freedman is emeritus professor of War Studies at King's College London. Elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE in 1996, he was appointed official historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. He was awarded the KCMG in 2003. In June 2009, he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.

Professor Freedman has written extensively on nuclear strategy and the Cold War, as well as commentating regularly on contemporary security issues. His book,
Strategy, was a best book of 2013 in the Financial Times, A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East won the 2009 Lionel Gelber Prize and Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ PublicAffairs; 1st edition (October 10, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1610393058
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1610393058
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.65 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 276 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Lawrence Freedman
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
276 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2017
If you want to truly understand the mistakes of others who have optimistically written off the prospects of war, this book is for you. Its opening section including nine concise chapters on future visions that misread both World Wars. Norman Angell's Great Illusion accurately noted that there was no rational reason to go to war given its immense costs, but as Freedman shows, wars are not always a rational response to political pressures. Freedman's inclusion of H.G. Wells and George Orwell added insights that I'd not seen in my own research. Readers who hope that Stephen Pinker's Better Angels of our Nature represents an accurate projection of a peaceful future, will want to see the author's detailed review of the various intellectual flaws and suspect casualty statistics that undergird that optimism.

I think this can be a great course book for a two semester course on Past Thinking of Future Wars, and Contemporary Issues in Warfare. (The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book). The closing sections on climate change, mega-cities, water wars, hybrid conflicts, and information warfare are valuable summaries that can be supplemented with deep dive articles. Dr. Freedman's critique of water wars was compelling, and think his skepticism could be carried over to urbanization as well. My only complaint is the emphasis on Anglo-American insights, and hope that Professor Freedman can extend this work into Russia, Chinese and Middle East perspectives on war and warfare.
45 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2023
I enjoyed the author's perspective on understanding the war from multiple dimensions.
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2018
Not made for east reading. I skipped to the last chapter to read the conclusions and will only have read the first 13 chapters and the last. I don't feel it necessary to read the other chapters.
2 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019
Well-written, thoughtful analysis. Helps the reader understand the fallacies of believing in short wars and needless overseas conflict. The only drawback was that part three seemed to cover much of what part two had talked about. Draws in some of the best strategy and history ever written.
2 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2019
Lawrence Friedman is one of my favorite authors on this topic. The title makes it seem that this is about the future of work it is not. This book is a compilation and overview of the historical approach to writing about the future of War. Amazing in its own right but don't read it because you want to read about robots fighting over lunar landscapes. This is about how people have speculated about the future of modern conflict from the Battle of Darby going forward. Tremendous work I recommend everything mr. Friedman writes
6 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2021
I can’t believe I hadn’t read this author before. Lucid writing style and meticulously researched. I plowed through this book.
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2017
Absolutely brilliant. A profound reflection on the never ending quest for peace and the unchanging human propensity for violence rendered in a straightforward style. The immense background of literature - specialized or not - provides an ample and solid foundation for the penetrating interpretations offered by the author.
7 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018
Professor Friedman has pulled off quite a feat: to write a boring book about war. After a promising start debunking Stephen Pinker's fatuous Better Angels book, this treatise devolves into a series of dry rehashes of various conflicts ancient and modern, interspersed with detailed explorations of questions of no interest to anyone outside academia - such as how many people really died in WWII, was it 40 million or maybe 50 million? With virtually no new insights or analysis, and burdened by a deadly dull writing style, reading this book felt a lot like the old joke with the punch line "there must be a pony in here somewhere" - except there isn't.
10 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

Dr Max McKeown
5.0 out of 5 stars Strategy, War and Imagination
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2019
Strategy is about attempts to, deliberately and imaginatively, shape the future. History though, as Freedman observes, is equally made by those who know nothing of the future and very often precious little of the past, present or likely consequences of available actions.

Some are better than others but those of slow wit or dubious grasp may shape human history as much as those who blunder from error to disaster to conflict to war to genocide.

This is harsh medicine for those who seek, and see enlightenment, yet to enjoy peace it is better - and necessary - to see the world as it is been, is, and is likely to be.

Human nature is unlikely to change quickly but we can perhaps become a little better at understanding how to protect ourselves from the worst of which our species is capable.
Customer image
Dr Max McKeown
5.0 out of 5 stars Strategy, War and Imagination
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2019
Strategy is about attempts to, deliberately and imaginatively, shape the future. History though, as Freedman observes, is equally made by those who know nothing of the future and very often precious little of the past, present or likely consequences of available actions.

Some are better than others but those of slow wit or dubious grasp may shape human history as much as those who blunder from error to disaster to conflict to war to genocide.

This is harsh medicine for those who seek, and see enlightenment, yet to enjoy peace it is better - and necessary - to see the world as it is been, is, and is likely to be.

Human nature is unlikely to change quickly but we can perhaps become a little better at understanding how to protect ourselves from the worst of which our species is capable.
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
4 people found this helpful
Report
digger pete
4.0 out of 5 stars War is unpredictable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2019
A lively history of how hard it is to predict what the next war will look like. Well written and particularly good on the factors leading to civil war.
3 people found this helpful
Report
Naguere
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is pristine, as new, not a blemish on it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2020
The book was advertised as 'having a Library stamp on it', well-it had brand new library sheet, ready for stamping when you borrow it, fixe to the flyleaf, not a mark on it.
I could not be more pleased, and when I read it I bet I am the first person to open it.
Shahram Chubin
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2017
As always brilliant and insightful. Freedman makes his penetrating analyses seem like common sense.
3 people found this helpful
Report
Ioannis Damianos
3.0 out of 5 stars Rating (three stars) is provisional as I have only sampled ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 26, 2018
Rating (three stars) is provisional as I have only sampled it. I've ordered books that intrigue me and now have a big reading backlog.
4 people found this helpful
Report