Books like War in human civilization by Azar Gat

John Keegan offers a visceral, on‑the‑frontline view of combat, comparing three iconic battles—Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme—to reveal the physical, emotional, and motivational realities soldiers face.

A gripping and intimate account of the Second World War, from its start to its conclusion and beyond, capturing the complex and tragic events of one of the most pivotal eras in world history.

An in‑depth chronicle of the Middle East’s political turmoil and conflicts, written by award‑winning journalist Robert Fisk who has covered the region’s wars and revolutions firsthand.

Historian Fergusson provides a revolutionary reinterpretation of the modern era that resolves its central paradox: why unprecedented progress coincided with unprecedented violence, and why the seeming triumph of the West bore the seeds of its undoing. From the conflicts that presaged the First World War to the aftershocks of the Cold War, the twentieth century was by far the bloodiest in all of human history. How can we explain the astonishing scale and intensity of its violence when, thanks to the advances of science and economics, most people were better off than ever before? Wherever one looked, the world in 1900 offered the happy prospect of ever-greater interconnection. Why, then, did global progress descend into internecine war and genocide? Drawing on a pioneering combination of history, economics, and evolutionary theory, Ferguson examines what he calls the age of hatred and sets out to explain what went wrong with modernity. --From publisher description.

Elusive Peace brings together a host of international experts on area studies and conflict resolution to examine various current and ongoing cases of internal conflict worldwide. Recognizing that internal dissidence is the legitimate result of the breakdown of normal politics, the authors explore how conflicts can be resolved through negotiation rather than combat. They provide a revealing look at the nature of internal conflicts, explain why appropriate conditions for negotiation and useful solutions are so difficult to find, and offer ways of finding solutions. The authors offer a series of case studies of ongoing conflict in Angola, Mozambique, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Africa, Southern Sudan, Lebanon, Spain, Colombia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. They examine the characteristics of each confrontation, including past failed negotiations, and in each case make suggestions for changes in negotiating strategies that could lead to a more successful outcome.

War is a compelling subject. It is common to almost all known societies and periods of history. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare provides a detailed and highly visual account of war in the West from antiquity to the present day, and is unique among works of its type because of its close integration of text and image and its controversial thesis that war in western societies has followed a unique path leading to western dominance of the globe. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare is essential reading for military enthusiasts, for everyone with an interest in the battles, campaigns, strategies, and fighting techniques which have - for better or worse - shaped our world, and for all who wish to understand how the West achieved its position of global dominance.