War

New York, NY: Random House Value Publishing, 1987. Trade paperback. Good. No dust jacket. War by Dyer, Gwynne Trade paperback. Random House Value Publishing (1987) Very good. No dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 272 p. Audience: General/trade. While modern science ponders whether human beings are programmed... Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 272 p. Audience: General/trade. War by Dyer, Gwynne Trade paperback. Random House Value Publishing (1987) Very good. No dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 272 p. Audience: General/trade. While modern science ponders whether human beings are programmed toward belligerence and warfare, there is no doubt that war has been humanity's constant companion since the dawn of civilization, and that we have become all too proficient in its conduct. In War, noted military historian Gwynne Dyer ranges from the tumbling walls of Jericho to the modern advent of total war in which no one is exempt from the horrors of armed conflict. He shows how the martial instinct has evolved over the human generations and among our close primate relations, such as the chimpanzee. Dyer squarely confronts the reality of war, and the threat of nuclear weapons, but does not despair that war is our eternal legacy. He likes and respects soldiers, even while he knows their job is to kill; he understands the physics and the psychology of battles, but he is no war junkie. Dyer surveys the fiery battlefields of human history, never losing sight of the people caught up in war. He actually believes there is hope that war can be abolished, that human beings are more than just our genes. Dyer's War explores the human past to imagine a different future.