Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on key episodes of military history from the point of view of economics - with dramatically insightful results. The authors also suggests lessons for today's military, from counter terrorist strategy and military manpower planning to the use of private military companies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Trade Review"In bringing economics into assessments of military history, the authors turn their interdisciplinary lens on the mercenary arrangements of Renaissance Italy; the wars of Marlborough, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon; Grant's campaigns in the Civil War; and the strategic bombings of World War II. The results are invariably stimulating." - Martin Walker, Wilson Quarterly "This study is serious, creative, important. As an economist I am happy to see economics so professionally applied to illuminate major decisions in the history of warfare." - Thomas C. Schelling, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics "The authors have cogently synthesized an extensive literature to effectively demonstrate to nonspecialists how basic economic concepts can provide insights into the nature of war." - Choice"
