About War
by Christopher K Pike
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 10 Jan 2023 | Archive Date 6 Jun 2023
Talking about this book? Use #AboutWar #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
War, like death and taxes, seems eternal but is it inevitable? Do nations simply blunder into it? What is victory and how is it achieved?
The author of this original and lively study answers these and other perennial questions about War and Warfare (not the same thing) that scholars often ignore.
Pike explains how strategy fuses objectives and action, how war leaders invariably (and literally) lose the plot; how the relationship between generals and politicians is key.
He looks at nuclear war and provides some provocative insights; he argues that Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) – while a hideous concept – provides strategic stability.
He also highlights the absurdity and folly of past wars – football wars, wars about pigs or ears – but stresses that wars, a last resort once diplomacy has failed, are lost by those blinded by hubris, irresolution or simple strategic confusion.
This is the first volume in a trilogy ‘Making Sense of War’. ‘War in Context’ will be published in the spring/summer of 2022.
'Both learned and a joy to read, Pike synthesises 2,000 years of scholarship and cuts through the fog of war and history.’ Antony Bird (writer and historian)
Advance Praise
Amazon Customer Reviews
J P Reason
5.0 out of 5 stars Wars are really about peace-or should be!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 22 January 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a well-researched well written book about a complicated but most important subject. The discussion includes a very wide range of historical references to wars, their promoters and participants. The politics of war are an essential ingredient & reference is made to the contemporary players- political, military, academic & advisory. The nuclear challenges & future developments are well explained & covered.
Peter Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars To achieve peace we must thoroughly understand war
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 11 March 2022
This book is a useful primer on a subject which has suddenly taken centre stage. Its 11 chapters cover a huge amount of ground, from Chapter 1 on “War in History” to Chapter 11 “The Future for War”.
One of the author’s key arguments is that to achieve peace we must thoroughly understand war; its broad sweep means that it would be useful not only for the interested general reader but to politicians, journalists and students, especially in a UK which, he says, punches consistently below its weight (and budget), thanks to a lack of strategic outlook and inefficient and inappropriate military procurement.
On the way he bemoans the disparity between the vast resources spent on creating and containing violence compared to what the world spends on peace, the latter accounting for only 2% of the economic losses from armed conflict. There are also numerous general insights that are relevant to the current situation in the Ukraine.
While I would have preferred a more comprehensive index, I can thoroughly recommend it both as a general primer and a useful antidote to newspaper hype.
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781839523786 |
| PRICE | £4.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 221 |
