War:

The Lethal Custom

Carroll & Graf, Jun 21, 2006 - History - 484 pages

While modern science ponders whether human beings are programmed toward belligerence and warfare, there is no doubt that war has been humanity's constant companion since the dawn of civilization, and that we have become all too proficient in its conduct. In War, noted military historian Gwynne Dyer ranges from the tumbling walls of Jericho to the modern advent of total war in which no one is exempt from the horrors of armed conflict. He shows how the martial instinct has evolved over the human generations and among our close primate relations, such as the chimpanzee. Dyer squarely confronts the reality of war, and the threat of nuclear weapons, but does not despair that war is our eternal legacy. He likes and respects soldiers, even while he knows their job is to kill; he understands the physics and the psychology of battles, but he is no war junkie. Dyer surveys the fiery battlefields of human history, never losing sight of the people caught up in war. He actually believes there is hope that war can be abolished, that human beings are more than just our genes. War is an award-winning book that explores the human past to imagine a different future.

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Review: War

User Review - RJ - Goodreads

Very well done overview of the role of war in the history of mankind. He is especially good in regard to ancient war. Why did men stay in a murderous battlefield rather than flee? Dyer makes the point ... Read full review

Review: War: The Lethal Custom

User Review - Leah Munsky - Goodreads

Honestly I didn't finish it, I gave it up as a bad job. It probably would have been a fine history book if he weren't trying to prove that war hasn't changed in thousands of years. It hasn't changed ... Read full review

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References from web pages

sixties-l: War: A Commentary (multiple responses)
series "War", which was seen in the us on PBS. His book _War_ was ... then a Ph.D. in war studies from University of London. Donald Theall ...
lists.village.virginia.edu/ lists_archive/ sixties-l/ 0191.html

Perspective 7 June 2005 - Gwynne Dyer
In the mid-1980s, the Cold War was nearing its second climax and the world lived in fear of an all-out nuclear war: ten thousand nuclear warheads exploding ...
www.abc.net.au/ rn/ talks/ perspective/ stories/ s1386772.htm

Books About The Iraq War
recommend book⇒Curveball, spies lies and the con man who caused a war ... recommend book⇒Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror ...
mindprod.com/ politics/ bushbooksiraq.html

Bibliography: Titles W
It asserts that even though war has always been a central institution in human ... Essays and articles by various writers expound opposing views on war and ...
www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/ curr_inst/ iru/ bibs/ sochis20bib/ t-dw.html

German General Staff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The country could no longer afford to wait until a war started to gather .... This war, the political origins of which lay in Denmark's conflict with ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ German_General_Staff

Gwynne Dyer: Information and Much More from Answers.com
He was employed as a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military ... Dyer's 1985 book War and its namesake television series have reached millions ...
www.answers.com/ topic/ gwynne-dyer

JSTOR: From the Reviewing Stand
Then there is the text of Gwynne Dyer's TV documentary on War as the greatest human drama and ... Three other views of war are found in Janice Holt Giles, ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0026-3931(198704)51%3A2%3C98%3AFTRS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3

Grosse Pointe
Title, War / by Gwynne Dyer. Imprint, New York : Crown, c1985. Edition, 1st ed. ... Note, Based on the PBS television series, War. Bibliog. ...
library.gp.lib.mi.us/ search?/ tthe+war/ twar/ 1%2C1%2C1%2CB/ frameset& FF=twar& 5%2C7%2C

Horizon Information Portal
Browse Catalog. by author:. Dyer, Gwynne. by title:. War /... Search Bookstores ... Based on the PBS television series, War. ...
library.losalamosnm.us/ ipac20/ ipac.jsp?session=12080003V5A2X.225511& profile=mpl& uri=link=3100007~!103948~!3100001~!3...

Bibliography - Patrick G Skelly - Military History Network http ...
<i>The Army Air Forces in World War II: Volume 1: Plans and Early Operations, .... Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. ...
www.milhist.net/ reference/ biblio.txt

About the author (2006)

GWYNNE DYER served in the Canadian, British, and American navies. He earned a Ph.D. in military history from the University of London, and was a senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The original version of this book, published in 1985, won a Columbia University School of Journalism Award. A seven-part television series based upon War was broadcast in forty-five countries in the mid-1980s; one of the episodes was nominated for an Academy Award. Dyer writes a twice-weekly newspaper column on international affairs and security policy that is published by 175 newspapers worldwide, many in the U. S. He lives in London with his wife and children.

Bibliographic information

Title	War: The Lethal Custom
Author	Gwynne Dyer
Edition	illustrated
Publisher	Carroll & Graf, 2006
ISBN	0786717718, 9780786717712
Length	484 pages
Subjects	History › Military › General History / Military / General

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