Retreat from Doomsday
Author: John Mueller
Publisher:
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 393
ISBN-13: 9781934849170
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The Remnants of War
Author: John Mueller
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2013-02-15
Total Pages: 273
ISBN-13: 0801459575
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"War... is merely an idea, an institution, like dueling or slavery, that has been grafted onto human existence. It is not a trick of fate, a thunderbolt from hell, a natural calamity, or a desperate plot contrivance dreamed up by some sadistic puppeteer on high. And it seems to me that the institution is in pronounced decline, abandoned as attitudes toward it have changed, roughly following the pattern by which the ancient and formidable institution of slavery became discredited and then mostly obsolete."—from the Introduction War is one of the great themes of human history and now, John Mueller believes, it is clearly declining. Developed nations have generally abandoned it as a way for conducting their relations with other countries, and most current warfare (though not all) is opportunistic predation waged by packs—often remarkably small ones—of criminals and bullies. Thus, argues Mueller, war has been substantially reduced to its remnants—or dregs—and thugs are the residual combatants. Mueller is sensitive to the policy implications of this view. When developed states commit disciplined troops to peacekeeping, the result is usually a rapid cessation of murderous disorder. The Remnants of War thus reinvigorates our sense of the moral responsibility bound up in peacekeeping. In Mueller's view, capable domestic policing and military forces can also be effective in reestablishing civic order, and the building of competent governments is key to eliminating most of what remains of warfare.
Military Waste
Author: Joshua O. Reno
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 2020-02-04
Total Pages: 283
ISBN-13: 0520974123
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWorld War III has yet to happen, and yet material evidence of this conflict is strewn everywhere: resting at the bottom of the ocean, rusting in deserts, and floating in near-Earth orbit. In Military Waste, Joshua O. Reno offers a unique analysis of the costs of American war preparation through an examination of the lives and stories of American civilians confronted with what is left over and cast aside when a society is permanently ready for war. Using ethnographic and archival research, Reno demonstrates how obsolete military junk in its various incarnations affects people and places far from the battlegrounds that are ordinarily associated with warfare. Using a broad swath of examples—from excess planes, ships, and space debris that fall into civilian hands, to the dispossessed and polluted island territories once occupied by military bases, to the militarized masculinities of mass shooters—Military Waste reveals the unexpected and open-ended relationships that non-combatants on the home front form with a nation permanently ready for war.
The Stupidity of War
Author: John Mueller
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2021-03-04
Total Pages: 343
ISBN-13: 1108843832
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis innovative argument shows the consequences of increased aversion to international war for foreign and military policy.
The Rise and Fall of Peace on Earth
Author: Michael Mandelbaum
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2019
Total Pages: 233
ISBN-13: 0190935936
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn The Rise and Fall of Peace on Earth, Michael Mandelbaum examines the peaceful quarter century after the end of the Cold War. He describes how the period came about and why it ended, arguing that individual countries overturned peaceful, political, and military arrangements in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, thereby affecting the rest of the world. He also probes prospects for the revival of peace in the future and stresses the importance of democracy and civil liberties across borders.
Why America Loses Wars
Author: Donald Stoker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2022-05-26
Total Pages: 345
ISBN-13: 1009220888
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow can you achieve victory in war if you don't have a clear idea of your political aims and a vision of what victory means? In this provocative challenge to US political aims and strategy, Donald Stoker argues that America endures endless wars because its leaders no longer know how to think about war, particularly wars fought for limited aims, taking the nation to war without understanding what they want or valuing victory and thus the ending of the war. He reveals how flawed ideas on so-called 'limited war' and war in general evolved against the backdrop of American conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. These ideas, he shows, undermined America's ability to understand, wage, and win its wars, and to secure peace. Now fully updated to incorporate the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, Why America Loses Wars dismantles seventy years of misguided thinking and lays the foundations for a new approach to the wars of tomorrow.
The Android's Dream
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2007-04-01
Total Pages: 408
ISBN-13: 142991470X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom New York Times bestseller and Hugo Award-winner John Scalzi, a wild-and-woolly caper novel of interstellar diplomacy A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most . . . unusual . . . way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: a type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinare, who, with the help of a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth looking for the rare creature. But there are others with plans for the sheep as well. Mercenaries employed by the military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a 21st century SF author. And alien races, eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth. To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off a grand diplomatic coup, a gambit that will take him from the halls of power to the lava-strewn battlefields of alien worlds. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of the sheep—and to protect the future of humanity. Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts 1. Lock In 2. Head On The Interdepency Sequence 1. The Collapsing Empire 2. The Consuming Fire Old Man's War Series 1. Old Man’s War 2. The Ghost Brigades 3. The Last Colony 4. Zoe’s Tale 5. The Human Division 6. The End of All Things At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Utility of Force
Author: Rupert Smith
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 2007-01-16
Total Pages: 448
ISBN-13: 0307267415
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom a highly decorated general, a brilliant new way of understanding war and its role in the twenty-first century. Drawing on his vast experience as a commander during the first Gulf War, and in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland, General Rupert Smith gives us a probing analysis of modern war. He demonstrates why today’s conflicts must be understood as intertwined political and military events, and makes clear why the current model of total war has failed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other recent campaigns. Smith offers a compelling contemporary vision for how to secure our world and the consequences of ignoring the new, shifting face of war.
The Waning of Major War
Author: Raimo Vayrynen
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-10-31
Total Pages: 605
ISBN-13: 113532025X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book is a systematic effort by leading international scholars to map the trends in major-power warfare and explore whether it is waxing or waning. The main point of departure is that major-power war as a historical institution is in decline. This does not mean, though, that wars between states are in general disappearing. While there is some convergence in the conclusions by individual authors, they are by no means unanimous about the trend. The articles explore different causes and correlates of the declining trend in major-power warfare, including the impact of the international structure, nuclear weapons, international law, multilateral institutions, sovereignty and value changes.
Obsolete
Author: Anna Jane Grossman
Publisher: ABRAMS
Published: 2010-12-31
Total Pages: 293
ISBN-13: 1613120303
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA cultural catalog of everyday things rapidly turning into rarities—from landlines to laugh tracks. So many things have disappeared from our day-to-day world, or are on the verge of vanishing. Some we may already think of as ancient relics, like typewriters (and their accompanying bottles of correction fluid). Others seem like they were here just yesterday, like boom boxes and CDs. We may feel fond nostalgia for certain items of yore: encyclopedias, newspapers, lighthouses. Other items, like MSG, not so much. But as the pace of change keeps accelerating, it’s worth taking a moment to mark the passing of the objects of our lives, from passbooks and pay phones to secretaries and skate keys. And to reflect on certain endangered phenomena that may be worth trying to hold on to—like privacy, or cash. This thoughtful alphabetized compendium invites us to take a look at the many things, ideas, and behaviors that have gone the way of the subway token—and to reflect on what is ephemeral, and what is truly timeless.
