War: How Conflict Shaped Us

Description

New York Times 10 Best Book of 2020 Sunday Times best book for Autumn 2020 Guardian critics' pick for Autumn 2020 Wall Street Journal notable book of 2020 The time since the Second World War has been seen by some as the longest uninterrupted period of harmony in human history: the 'long peace', as Stephen Pinker called it. But despite this, there has been a military conflict ongoing every year since 1945. The same can be said for every century of recorded history. Is war, therefore, an essential part of being human? In War, Professor Margaret MacMillan explores the deep links between society and war and the questions they raise. We learn when war began - whether among early homo sapiens or later, as we began to organise ourselves into tribes and settle in communities. We see the ways in which war reflects changing societies and how war has brought change - for better and worse. Economies, science, technology, medicine, culture: all are instrumental in war and have been shaped by it - without conflict it we might not have had penicillin, female emancipation, radar or rockets. Throughout history, writers, artists, film-makers, playwrights, and composers have been inspired by war - whether to condemn, exalt or simply puzzle about it. If we are never to be rid of war, how should we think about it and what does that mean for peace?

Margaret MacMillan is Emeritus Professor of International History, University of Oxford and Professor of History, University of Toronto. She is the author of Women and the Raj and the international bestsellers Nixon in China and Peacemakers, which won the 2002 Samuel Johnson Prize, and The War that Ended Peace, The Uses and Abuses of History and History's People, all published by Profile.

'Only an historian with MacMillan's comprehensive knowledge, command of sources, clarity of thought, and artful writing could succeed so brilliantly with one volume on this sweeping topic.' - Robert B. Zoellick, former President of the World Bank 'This important book teaches us to realize the impressive way in which war invades every aspect of our society. Read and learn.' - George Shultz 'War is awful but somehow alluring, dreaded but, too often, welcomed. On these pages, with her vast gifts as an historian and story teller, Margaret MacMillan explains why.' - Evan Thomas, author of 'Readable and convincing ... yet another tour de force from Margaret MacMillan' - Professor Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University and author of 'MacMillan's book ranges briskly and fluently across the entire history of human warfare ... she is a bracingly unsentimental observer with an admirable eye for detail.' - Dominic Sandbrook