The Causes of War
by Geoffrey Blainey
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Description
"Australia's most famous historian on a freshly essential subject; a classic work updated for our times. The Causes of War is one of Geoffrey Blainey's most influential books, carried in corridors of power around the world. Covering international wars from 1700 -- and now updated to include Ukraine and Gaza -- Blainey demolishes many widely-held theories of why nations fight, arguing that peace is not the 'natural' state of international relations and war is not an aberration. Both are best show more understood as means of advancing national interests: when one is failing, the other becomes more likely, and therefore we need to understand what causes 'the mystery of peace' as urgently as we understand what causes war. Trenchantly argued and beautifully written, this bracing, clear-eyed survey is an essential guide to understanding our current fraught moment, seeing beyond the daily news cycle to deeper truths about the way the modern world works."--Dust jacket. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
An interesting book asking the questions of war and peace. Why do wars start and what causes wars. I found some chapters very informative and others I found hard to read. I'm not sure if I just couldn't work out what he was saying in parts or if he was unclear in his writing. I'm willing to put the blame on myself, having said that some of the concept's that he talks about are obscure. I enjoyed the first chapter "The Peace that Passeth Understanding", where he talks about the "Manchester Creed" and the belief that progress will end war. Something we still hear. I also enjoyed the last two chapters "Australia's Pacific War" and "War, Peace and Neutrality". "Australia's Pacific War" is very original and shows why he is a renowned show more Historian. It has a lot of information on European wars since 1700 and the book is a good read for that alone. His ideas and research are on display and of value throughout. If your interested in the topic you should read this book. show less
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Author Information
56+ Works 2,685 Members
Geoffrey Blainey is an Australian historian, born 1930 in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne. He taught at the University of Melbourne and held chairs in economic history and history. He taught at Harvard University as a visiting professor of Australian Studies. He has written over 36 and is the author of The show more Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia for which he was a joint winner of the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian history. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1973
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 355.027 — Society, Government, and Culture Public administration & military science The Military - Land, Air & Sea / Warfare War Causes of War and Conflict
- LCC
- U21.2 .B53 — Military Science Military science (General) War. Philosophy. Military sociology
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 271
- Popularity
- 118,739
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.53)
- Languages
- English, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 6
