Ride of the second horseman : the birth and death of war / Robert L. O'Connell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Connell, Robert L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War--History.

War.

Military art and science--History.

Military art and science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (316 p.)

Edition:

Paperback ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997, c1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Accurst be he that first invented war, wrote Christopher Marlowe--a declaration that most of us would take as a literary, not literal, construction. But in this sweeping overview of the rise of civilization, Robert O'Connell finds that war is indeed an invention--an institution that arose due to very specific historical circumstances, an institution that now verges on extinction. In Ride of the Second Horseman, O'Connell probes the distant human past to show how and why war arose. He begins with a definition that distinguishes between war and mere feuding: war involves group rather than indivi

Contents:

Contents; 1 Introduction: In Search of a Beginning; 2 Thunder Beneath Our Feet; 3 The Soul of a Hunter; 4 False Alarm; 5 Plant Trap; 6 Ride of the Second Horseman; 7 Urban Ignition; 8 Anatomy of the Beast; 9 Garden of Otherworldly Delights; 10 Lords of Extortion; 11 Heaven's Mandate; 12 The World Anew; 13 Thalassocracy; 14 Conclusion: The Horseman's Fall; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-289) and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-802293-X

1-280-47128-X

9786610471287

1-4237-3905-1

1-60256-271-7

OCLC:

475955869