01404nam a22002057a 450000500170000000800410001702000150005804000070007308200210008010000170010124500270011826000450014530000280019036500200021852008720023865000210111065000200113165000290115170000180118020211126095004.0211126b           ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a0786715383  cAL  223a355.02bDYEW  aGwynne Dyer   aWar: The Lethal Custom  aNew YorkbCaroll & Graf Publishersc2005  ax,484 p.bHBc23x16 cm.  b30.00c$d30.00  aA revised edition of Dyer’s classic book, widely regarded as one of the most compelling analyses of the history of armed conflict.
“War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies were coming into being. What has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes.”
With this provocative statement, Gwynne Dyer launches his brilliant discussion of the history and nature of war. He traces the growth of organized warfare through history, showing conclusively that the basic tenet has remained unchanged — war is an act of mass violence applied against an enemy so that he will do what you want him to do. The only real change has been technological, permitting us to make war on a mass scale.  aMilitary Science  aWar and Society  aMilitary Art and Science  aDYER (Gwynne)