War
(see also Militarization of Foreign Policy, Military Life & Values, War vs. Environment, War vs. Mental Health, Corporate Power, Arms Trade, Landmines, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, World War I, World War II: Europe, World War II: Pacific, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War 1990-Present)
Basics
Over 100 million people died premature deaths in the wars of the 20th c, the bloodiest in human history.
On the Web: Articles
Hey, People: War is No Game. Robert Scheer, Nation (1/7/03).
The Push for War. Anatol Lieven, London Review of Books (10/3/02). Brilliant critique of the world view & militarist foreign policy of the "think tank" intellectuals surrounding the Bush administration.
Metaphor & War. Paper given during Gulf War (1/30/91).
War Prayer. Mark Twain's reflection on US imperial war in the Philippines, dictated ca. 1905 but rejected by publisher & first printed in 1923. Never more appropriate than today!
On the Web: Specialized Sites
The History Guy. Resources for high school students on current military conflicts.
On War. Books on military history.
Small Wars Center of Excellence (US Marines).
War Facts (War around the world since World War II, from the Peace Pledge Union)
In the Library: Articles
Appel, J.W. & G.W. Beebe. "Preventive psychiatry: an epidemiological approach," Journal of the American Medical Association 131 (1946). War & mental health: "...psychiatric casualties are as inevitable as gunshot and shrapnel wounds in warfare."
Ehrenreich, Barbara. "Men hate war too," Foreign Affairs 78,1 (1-2/99):118-22.
__________. "The roots of war," Progressive (4/03):14-15.
Fishman, Ted C. "Making a killing: the myth of capital's good intentions,"
Harper's (8/02):33-41.
Lynn, John. "The evolution of army style in the modern West, 800-2000,"
International History Review 18,3 (aug 1996):505-35.
Reynolds, David. "Power, wealth & war in the modern world (rev. art.),"
History Journal 32 (jun 1989):475-87.
Tinbergen, Caleb. "The rarely told story of WWII," Los Angeles
Times (10/29/01). On intentional bombing of German civilian populations
in low-income areas to create chaos & win war.
van Rheenen, F.J. & Gary Lapid. "Psychological effects of readiness for war," in A.H. Ehrlich & J.W. Birks (eds.) Hidden Dangers: Environmental Consequences of Preparing for War (San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1990), pp. 190-209.
Ziferstein, Isidore. "Psychological habituation to war," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry ?,? (4/67). How government propaganda prepares people for war.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Anon. Common Grounds: Violence Against Women in War & Armed Conflict Situations (Quezon in A.H. Ehrlich & J.W. Birks (eds.) Hidden Dangers: Environmental Consequences of Preparing for War (San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1990), pp. 161-189.City: Asian Center for Women's Human Rights, 1998).
Archer, Christon I.; John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig & Timothy H.E. Travers. World History of Warfare (Lincoln: U. Nebraska, 2002).
Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (ed.) War’s Dirty Secret: Rape, Prostitution & other Crimes Against Women (Cleveland OH: Pilgrim,2000).
Bellesiles, Michael A. Lethal Imagination: Violence & Brutality in American History (NY, 1999).
Bevan, Robert. The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War (London: Reaktion, 2006).
Black, Jeremy. War and the World: Military Power & the Fate of Continents,
1450-2000 (New Haven, 1998).
Bourke, Joanna. An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in
20th-C. Warfare (NY, 1999).
Bradford, James C. (ed.) The Military & Conflict between Cultures:
Soldiers at the Interface (College Station TX, 199?).
Bramson, Leon & George W. Goethals. War: Studies from Psychology, Sociology,
Anthropology (NY, 1964).
Brandes, Stuart D. Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America (Lexington
KY: U. of Kentucky, 1997).
Chaliand, Gérard. The Art of War in World History. From Antiquity
to the Nuclear Age (Berkeley, 1994).
Citino, Robert M. Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare (Lawrence: U. of Kansas, 2004).
Craig, Campbell. Glimmer of a New Leviathan: Total War in the Realism of Niebuhr, Morgenthau, & Waltz (NY: Columbia, 2003).
Dudley, Leonard M. The Word & the Sword. How Techniques of Violence
have Shaped Our World (Oxford, 1992).
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Blood Rites: Origins & History of the Passions
of War (NY, 1997).
Ellis, John. The Social History of the Machine Gun (Baltimore, 198?).
Falk, Richard H.; Gabriel Kolko & Robert Jay Lifton (eds.) Crimes of War: A Legal, Political-Documentary & Psychological Inquiry into the Responsibility of Leaders, Citizens & Soldiers for Criminal Acts in Wars (NY: Random House, 1971).
Fallaci, Oriana. Nothing, & So Be It: A Personal Search for Meaning in War (NY, 1972).
Fink, Sheri. War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival (NY: PublicAffairs, 2003).
Gabriel, Richard. No More Heroes (NY: Hill & Wang, 1987). Psychological consequences of war, which destroys the minds of twice as many people as it kills.
Gellhorn, Martha. The Face of War [ 1959] (NY: Atlantic Monthly, 1988).
Giddens, Anthony. The Nation-State & Violence (Berkeley, 1987).
Gray, Chris Hables. Postmodern War. The New Politics of Conflict (NY,
1998).
Gray, J. Glenn. The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle [1959] (NY: Harper Torchbooks, 1992). A philosopher's deep ruminations from the front lines of World War II.
Grossman, Dave. On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War & Society (Boston: Little, Brown, 1995).
Gutman, R. & D. Rieff (eds.) Crimes of War. What the Public Should
Know (NY, 1999).
Hanson, Victor Davis. Carnage & Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power (NY: Doubleday, 2001).
Hayner, Priscilla B. Unspeakable Truths. Confronting State Terror & Atrocity (NY, 2000).
Hedges, Chris. War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning (NY: Public Affairs, 2002).
__________. What Every Person Should Know About War (NY: Free Press, 2003).
Herman, Judith. Trauma & Recovery (NY: Basic Books, 1992).
Keegan, John. The Face of Battle (NY, 1976).
Kolko, Gabriel. Century of War: Politics, Conflicts & Society since 1914 (NY: New Press, 1994).
Larkin, Bruce. War Stories (NY: P. Lang, 2001).
Levene, Mark & Penny Roberts (eds.) The Massacre in History (?,
1999?).
Lifton, Robert Jay. Home from the War (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1973). On post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Lindqvist, Sven. A History of Bombing [2000] (English trans. NY, 2001).
Lynn, John A. Battle: A History of Combat & Culture. (Boulder: Westview, 2003).
McNeill, William H. The Pursuit of Power. Technology, Armed Force &
Society since 1000 (Chicago, 1982).
Nadelson, Theodore. Trained to Kill: Soldiers at War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2005).
Nelson, Keith L. & Spencer C. Olin. Why War? Ideology, Theory, &
History (Berkeley, 198?).
Nettleship, M.A. et al. War: Its Causes & Correlates (The Hague,
1975).
Nieberg, Michael S. Warfare in World History (NY, 2001).
O’Connell, Robert L. Ride of the Second Horseman. The Birth &
Death of War (NY, 1995).
_______________. Of Arms & Men: A History of War, Weapons & Aggression (NY: Oxford, 1989).
Poole, H. John. Phantom Soldier: The Enemy's Answer to US Firepower (?: Posterity, 2001). Compares battlefield behavior of enemy infantrymen in wars vs. Japan, Germany, Vietnam, Iraq & Somalia.
Ropp, Theodore. War in the Modern World (NY, 1962).
Saywell, Shelley. Women in War (NY: Viking, 1985).
Shaw, Martin. The New Western Way of War: Risk-Transfer War & its Crisis in Iraq (London: Polity, 2005). New way of war, transfering risk to civilians as "collateral damage, is intrinsically counterproductive.
Shrader, Charles R. Amicicide: The Problem of Friendly Fire in Modern War (Ft. Leavenworth KS: US Army Command & General Staff College, 1985).
Smock, David R. Religious Perspectives on War: Christian, Muslim & Jewish Attitudes Towrd Force (Washington: US Institute of Peace, 2002).
Spiller, Roger. An Instinct for War: Scenes from the Battlefields of History (Cambridge MA: Harvard, 2006).
Steed, Brian. Armed Conflict: The Lessons of Modern Warfare (Novato CA: Presidio, 200?).
Townshend, Charles (ed.) The Oxford History of Modern War (NY: Oxford, 2000).
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms. A Global History of World War II (Cambridge, 1994).
Walzer, Michael. Just & Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (NY: Basic, 1977).
Willis, Clint (ed.) Writing War: The Best Contemporary Journalism About War & Conflict from Around the World (NY: Thunder's Mouth, 2003).
Winslow, Philip C. Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth. Land Mines & the
Global Legacy of War (Boston, 1997).
In the Library: Fiction
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22 (NY, 1955 & many subsequent editions). Unique work of fiction, both hilarious and horrifying in its commentary on military life in the US Air Force during the last months of World War II.
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Apostrophe to Man" & "Conscientious Objector"
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
"If Jimmy Didn't Have to Go," Charlie King. On his Inside Out, Vaguely Reminiscent Sounds.
"Listen," & "The Way to You," by Colleen Kattau. On her Wide Land, from ckattau@ithaca.edu or 16 James St.; Cortland, NY 13045.
"Noche sin estrellas," by Tish Hinojosa. On her Destiny's Gate, Warner Bros. 9-45566-2.
Film & Video
"Goodbye War" [1983], by National Film Board of Canada, 60m. From Films Inc. Wars usually started over matter of principle; but reality of war has little to do with justice.
"The Road to Total War" [1983], by National Film Board of Canada, 60m. From Films Inc. Advances in military technology over two centuries.