eBook - ePub
War! What Is It Good For?
Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots
- 643 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
War! What Is It Good For?
Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots
About this book
A powerful and provocative exploration of how war has changed our society—for the better.
"War!. . . . / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing," says the famous song—but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer.
In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thousand years of war, going beyond the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. Stone Age people lived in small, feuding societies and stood a one-in-ten or even one-in-five chance of dying violently. In the twentieth century, by contrast—despite two world wars, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust—fewer than one person in a hundred died violently. The explanation: War, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence. Strangely enough, killing has made the world safer, and the safety it has produced has allowed people to make the world richer too.
War has been history's greatest paradox, but this searching study of fifteen thousand years of violence suggests that the next half century is going to be the most dangerous of all time. If we can survive it, the age-old dream of ending war may yet come to pass. But, Morris argues, only if we understand what war has been good for can we know where it will take us next.
Praise for War! What Is It Good For?
"[Morris's] pace is perfect, his range dazzling, his phrasemaking fluent, his humor raucous. . . . [A] rattling good book." —Felipe Fernández-Armesto, The Wall Street Journal
"Ian Morris's evidence that war has benefited our species—albeit inadvertently—is provocative, compelling, and fearless. This book is equally horrific and inspiring, detailed and sweeping, lighthearted and dead serious. For those who think war has been a universal disaster, it will change the way they think about the course of history." —Richard Wrangham, coauthor of Demonic Males and author of Catching Fire
"A disturbing, transformative text that veers toward essential reading." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"War!. . . . / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing," says the famous song—but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer.
In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thousand years of war, going beyond the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. Stone Age people lived in small, feuding societies and stood a one-in-ten or even one-in-five chance of dying violently. In the twentieth century, by contrast—despite two world wars, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust—fewer than one person in a hundred died violently. The explanation: War, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence. Strangely enough, killing has made the world safer, and the safety it has produced has allowed people to make the world richer too.
War has been history's greatest paradox, but this searching study of fifteen thousand years of violence suggests that the next half century is going to be the most dangerous of all time. If we can survive it, the age-old dream of ending war may yet come to pass. But, Morris argues, only if we understand what war has been good for can we know where it will take us next.
Praise for War! What Is It Good For?
"[Morris's] pace is perfect, his range dazzling, his phrasemaking fluent, his humor raucous. . . . [A] rattling good book." —Felipe Fernández-Armesto, The Wall Street Journal
"Ian Morris's evidence that war has benefited our species—albeit inadvertently—is provocative, compelling, and fearless. This book is equally horrific and inspiring, detailed and sweeping, lighthearted and dead serious. For those who think war has been a universal disaster, it will change the way they think about the course of history." —Richard Wrangham, coauthor of Demonic Males and author of Catching Fire
"A disturbing, transformative text that veers toward essential reading." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access War! What Is It Good For? by Ian Morris in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Military & Maritime History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- List of Illustrations
- Contents
- Introduction: Friend to the Undertaker
- 1. The Wasteland? War and Peace in Ancient Rome
- 2. Caging the Beast: The Productive Way of War
- 3. The Barbarians Strike Back: The Counterproductive Way of War, A.D. 1–1415
- 4. The Five Hundred Years’ War: Europe (Almost) Conquers the World, 1415–1914
- 5. Storm of Steel: The War for Europe, 1914–1980s
- 6. Red in Tooth and Claw: Why the Chimps of Gombe Went to War
- 7. The Last Best Hope of Earth: American Empire, 1989–?
- Notes
- Further Reading
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Index
- Also by Ian Morris
- A Note About the Author
- Copyright