Description

Book Synopsis
In this provocative book, Robert O''Connell examines the role and significance of weapons from the dawn of human history to the present, and the attempts of western civilization to come to terms with the grim results of its own inventiveness. This is not simply a history of the technology of weapons. It integrates the evolution of human society with the development of weapons and strategy into a single, coherent story. While primarily historical in his approach, O''Connell also draws upon anthropology, sociology, biology, and literature in his effort to explain certain recurring phenomena of warfare: the human need to dehumanize the enemy; arms races involving weapons which have developed beyond the point of utility; or the ideal of heroism rendered obsolete by deadly new technologies.

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`[a] sardonic and stimulating history of men, arms, and warfare' Los Angeles Times Book Review

Of Arms and Men

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    A Paperback by Robert L. O'Connell

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      Book details

      Publisher Oxford University Press
      Published 2/21/1991 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN-13 9780195053609
      978-0195053609
      ISBN-10 0195053605
      Also in:
      Chemical and biological weapons Warfare and defence

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In this provocative book, Robert O''Connell examines the role and significance of weapons from the dawn of human history to the present, and the attempts of western civilization to come to terms with the grim results of its own inventiveness. This is not simply a history of the technology of weapons. It integrates the evolution of human society with the development of weapons and strategy into a single, coherent story. While primarily historical in his approach, O''Connell also draws upon anthropology, sociology, biology, and literature in his effort to explain certain recurring phenomena of warfare: the human need to dehumanize the enemy; arms races involving weapons which have developed beyond the point of utility; or the ideal of heroism rendered obsolete by deadly new technologies.

      Trade Review
      `[a] sardonic and stimulating history of men, arms, and warfare' Los Angeles Times Book Review

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