Product Description: War is a paradox. On the one hand, it destroys bodies and destroys communities. On the other hand, it is responsible for some of the strongest human bonds and has been the genesis of many of our most fundamental institutions.  War and Society addresses these paradoxes while providing a sociological exploration of this enigmatic phenomenon which has played a central role in human history, wielded an incredible power over human lives, and commanded intellectual questioning for countless generations...read more

Product Description: The impact that First Person Shooter video games have had on the evolution of youth culture over a decade or more has been the focus of attention from political leaders; medical and legal specialists; and the mass media. Much of the discussion concerning these games has focused on the issues of the violence that is depicted in the games and on the perceived psychological and social costs for individuals and society...read more

Product Description: This book analyses some of the key problems explored in Paul Virilio’s theorising on war and security. Paul Virilio has developed a provocative series of writings on how modern societies have shaped the acceleration of military/security technologies – and how technologies of security and acceleration have transformed society, economy and politics...read more

Product Description: This book analyses the role of war and violence (in both its physical and symbolic forms) for social work in a time of neoliberal globalisation from a social justice perspective. It argues that the consequences of wars, in both their old and new forms, and the exercise of symbolic violence for the practices of social work at national and global levels have been ignored...read more

Product Description: 'Civilization and War is an exceptionally erudite and timely meditation on the close relationship between civilization, progress and war in modern political thought and policy from the Enlightenment to the war on terror. It is a fitting complement to Dr...read more

Product Description: War was pervasive in the 20th century, and the 21st century seems to hold little promise of improvement. War is still one of the world's most destructive forces, which on a daily basis touches the lives of millions of people. To increase the understanding of the pervasiveness and destructiveness of the institution of war, all possible frameworks of knowledge must be mobilized...read more

Product Description: The availability of food is an especially significant issue in zones of conflict because conflict nearly always impinges on the production and the distribution of food, and causes increased competition for food, land and resources Controlling the production of and access to food can also be used as a weapon by protagonists in conflict...read more

Product Description: Although war is terrible and brutal, history shows that it has been a great driver of human progress. So argues political scientist Benjamin Ginsberg in this incisive, well-researched study of the benefits to civilization derived from armed conflict...read more

Product Description: The volume provides a rare opportunity to launch a dialogue among historians working on the theme by examining different societies and chronological periods. It is often a case that the studies of the construction of memory of wars are geographically bound to specific countries...read more

Product Description: Virtual War and Magical Death is a provocative examination of the relations between anthropology and contemporary global war. Several arguments unite the collected essays, which are based on ethnographic research in varied locations, including Guatemala, Uganda, and Tanzania, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and the United States...read more

Product Description: In this fascinating book, the author of The Hinge Factor and The Weather Factor surveys revolutions across the centuries, vividly portraying the people and events that brought wrenching, often enduring—and always bloody—change to countries and societies almost overnight...read more

A close examination of the role of intelligence in shaping America’s perception of the Vietnam War, looking closely at the intelligence leadership and decision process. In 1967, intelligence was called upon to bolster support for the Vietnam War and allowed America’s leaders to portray a ‘bankrupt’ enemy ready to quit the battlefield. The audacious Tet Offensive of 1968 shattered this image and although it ended with an American military victory, it is remembered as the juncture when American support turned against the war. Public opinion on the war was a primary concern for the Johnson Administration, and US intelligence played a decisive role in providing an overly optimistic view of the enemy’s demise. As the "bankrupt" enemy attacked with a ferocity and intensity that shocked the American public, intelligence had set-up the American public for a fall. How, Americans wanted to know, could an enemy whose numbers had been so decimated now launch such an all-out offensive? From this examination and an understanding of how the enemy viewed itself, the conclusion is made that four severe breaches of intelligence etiquette occurred during the period leading up to Tet. This phenomenon is the ‘Tet effect’ – the loss of credibility when leaders portray a situation based upon intelligence that is shown to be disingenuous. This book will be of great interest to students of the Vietnam war, intelligence and strategic studies in general.

Product Description: This book, the first of its kind, provides a sweeping critical history of social theories about war and peace from Hobbes to the present. Distinguished social theorists Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knöbl present both a broad intellectual history and an original argument as they trace the development of thinking about war over more than 350 years--from the premodern era to the period of German idealism and the Scottish and French enlightenments, and then from the birth of sociology in the nineteenth century through the twentieth century...read more