Clodfelter is the author of three books on military history and has also written this reference on military casualties, which was originally published in 1992. It has now been significantly revised and updated. Coverage has been expanded from the original dates of 1680 to 1992 to 1500 to 2000. The number of conflicts covered has increased from 820 to approximately 932. The bibliography has been expanded from approximately 268 citations to about 482. A random comparison of the original text of the two volumes shows cosmetic rewording. There are no photographs or illustrations in either edition, although both contain appropriately placed tables in the text.
This reference covers land, naval, and air conflicts ranging from wars to local riots, such as the Haymarket Riot. Entries are grouped by century and by region, then arranged chronologically. They vary from a paragraph for Ute War to many pages for major conflicts, such as the Vietnam War. All entries provide a historical description with statistical information on the conflict given in the text. Significant conflicts have a list of all major battles and casualties at the end of the entry. Assisting users is a large index listing conflicts, battles, ships, weapons, and persons. A check of the index noted a few omissions (e.g., M-16).
In some cases the bibliography cites older editions of references that have had statistical information updated in more recent editions, for example, Boatner's Civil War Dictionary (McKay), which was revised in 1988. Also, some well-known references on casualty figures for particular conflicts have not been cited. An example is The Toll of Independence: Engagements and Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (Univ. of Chicago, 1974), by Howard Peckham, the standard reference for casualties of the American Revolution. In addition, there are no citations to sources of information used within the text, and this is a serious shortcoming for scholars.
Warfare and Armed Conflicts, although not quite as far-reaching as some in its treatment of ancient history, has more overall coverage of conflicts and excels in modern coverage. It remains a useful statistical resource on warfare that should be considered for the reference collection by academic and large public libraries. RBB
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