Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this concise history of war, Jeremy Black ranges widely, giving due attention to non-western as well as western traditions. The history of war is inextricably bound to the history of the world. Through a detailed exploration of 'world-scale' issues of warfare, presented within a chronological framework that spans human history, Jeremy Black skilfully illustrates this fact whilst providing the reader with other astute insights and compelling interpretations of war.

War: A Short History is a dramatic move away from the formulaic, western approach to military history. Too narrow in its focus on wars specific to the west and too simple because of an over-reliance on a technologically-deterministic reading of warfare, this approach has been rejected by Jeremy Black in favour of a global model that takes all factors into account when considering the strengths and weaknesses of a particular military tradition. This is a book that is as important for its relevance to current world issues of conflict as it is for its thorough consideration of a monumentally significant aspect of human history.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface(p. vii)
• Introduction(p. 1)
• 1 Until the 'Barbarian' Invasions(p. 13)
• 2 From the Creation of the Islamic World to the Start of European Transoceanic Expansion, 630-1490(p. 35)
• 3 The Gunpowder Empires of the Early-Modern World, 1490-1630(p. 55)
• 4 From the Mid-Seventeenth Century Crisis to the Age of Revolutions, 1630-1800(p. 77)
• 5 The World of the European Empires, 1800-1950(p. 107)
• 6 To the Present, 1950-(p. 151)
• 7 Conclusions: Assessing War(p. 159)
• Selected Further Reading(p. 169)
• Index(p. 173)