MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 02701cam a2200337 i 4500
001 2013038722
003 DLC
005 20140521081324.0
008 130924s2014 nyu b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2013038722
020 $a9780374286002 (hardback)
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$erda$dDLC
042 $apcc
050 00 $aCB481$b.M67 2014
082 00 $a303.6/6$223
084 $aHIS027000$aSOC002000$2bisacsh
100 1 $aMorris, Ian,$d1960-
245 10 $aWar! What is it good for? :$bconflict and the progress of civilization from primates to robots /$cIan Morris.
264 1 $aNew York :$bFarrar, Straus and Giroux,$c[2014]
300 $axi, 495 pages :$billustrations, map ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
520 $a"A powerful and provocative exploration of how war has changed our society--for the better "War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing," says the famous song--but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer. In War! What Is It Good For? the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thousand years of war, going behind the battles and brutality to reveal what war has really done to and for the world. Stone Age people lived in small, feuding societies and stood a one-in-ten or even one-in-five chance of dying violently. In the twentieth century, by contrast--despite two world wars, Hiroshima, and the Holocaust--fewer than one person in a hundred died violently. The explanation: war, and war alone, has created bigger, more complex societies, ruled by governments that have stamped out internal violence. Strangely enough, killing has made the world safer, and the safety it has produced has allowed people to make the world richer too. War has been history's greatest paradox, but this searching study of fifteen centuries of violence suggests that the next half century is going to be the most dangerous of all time. If we can survive it, the age-old dream of ending war may yet come to pass. But, Morris argues, only if we understand what war has been good for can we know where it will take us next"--$cProvided by publisher.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 433-471) and index.
650 0 $aWar and civilization.
650 0 $aWar.
650 0 $aMilitary history.
650 7 $aHISTORY / Military / General.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aSOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General.$2bisacsh
856 42 $3Cover image$uhttp://www.netread.com/jcusers2/bk1388/002/9780374286002/image/lgcover.9780374286002.jpg