Barbed Wire: A Political History

Description

No less than the internal combustion engine, the transistor, or the silicon chip, barbed wire is a quintessentially modern invention, a product that has influenced the lives of millions of people across the globe since its invention in the late nineteenth century. Now in paperback, Barbed Wire: A Political History demonstrates that the invention of barbed wire was a major breakthrough with far-reaching consequences. Cheap and mass-produced, barbed wire accomplished what no other product did before it, or has since done more effectively: the control of vast amounts of open space. looks unflinchingly at a central and fascinating strand of modern life.

Olivier Razac lives in Lyons, France. A philosopher by training, he is completing a doctoral dissertation on the genealogy of biopower.

"Razac writes with a cool precision that matches the sharp sting of his subject." - The Christian Science Monitor "A fascinating read. . . . No one who reads Barbed Wire will look at this stuff the same way again." -Salon.com "[Razac] proves himself the poet of barbed wire. . . . An important, accessible and even beautiful study of this deadly instrument. " -St. Petersburg Times