Advance Praise...
"This splendid volume affirms what we already know: Martin van Creveld is the most creative, most insightful, and most important military historian writing in English today." -Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War
"For more than thirty years Martin van Creveld has been one of the world’s foremost military thinkers. In The
Culture of War, van Creveld once more shows an exceptional mastery of
his subject as he explores a vital but rarely acknowledged aspect of
war, its deep-rooted culture. As he did in his provocative The
Transformation of War, van Creveld argues against the premise that wars
are fought only for political ends fails to recognize that war is also
an end in itself. Van Creveld presents his case powerfully and
convincingly with a rich mixture of historical and contemporary
examples. Citizens and soldiers alike will find this book informative,
novel, and thought-provoking." -Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
"Martin van Creveld continues to give us insight into the many facets of war. Each time he adds another dimension, sharing his broad knowledge and brilliant analytical mind. The Culture of War brings us another step into understanding the underlying issues." -Dr. Joel P. Wyler, chairman, Granaria Holdings B.V.
About the book...
A respected scholar of military history and an expert on strategy,
Martin van Creveld recently explored the modern world’s shifting method
of combat in The Changing Face of War. Now, in The Culture of War, he
argues that there is much more to war than just soldiers killing one
another for whatever reason.
War has always been a topic of deep
intrigue. Fighting itself can be a source of great, perhaps even the
greatest, joy; out of this joy and fascination an entire culture has
grown–from the war paint of tribal warriors to today’s "tiger suits,"
from Julius Caesar’s red cloak to Douglas McArthur’s pipe, from the
decorative shields of ancient Greece to today’s nose art, and from the
invention of chess around 600 A.D. to the most modern combat
simulators. The culture of war has its own traditions, laws and
customs, rituals, ceremonies, music, art, literature, and monuments
since the beginning of civilization.
Throughout the ages, the
culture of war has usually been highly esteemed. Not so in today’s
advanced countries, which tend either to mock it ("military
intelligence is to intelligence what military music is to music") or to
denounce it as "militaristic." This provocative book, the first of its
kind, sets out to show how wrongheaded, and even dangerous, such
attitudes are. The Culture of War argues that men and women, contrary
to the hopes of some, are just as fascinated by war today as they have
been in the past. A military that has lost touch with the culture of war is doomed not merely to defeat but to disintegration.
Innovative,
authoritative, and riveting, this is a major work by one of the world’s
greatest and most insightful military historians.