John Keegan

A History of Warfare.

He examines every branch of warfare in its history, psychology, metallurgy, genetics, logistics, archaeology, tactics and strategy...He is as much at home in the Empire of Babylon as he is on the Somme...On every subject he has something fresh to say. His learning is staggering and his gift for exposition unequalled Nigel Nicolson, Daily Telegraph. Keegans power as a writer derives from the fact that he does not see himself merely as a chronicler of battles, but as a student of the human condition. It is the breadth of his grasp of civilisation, as well as of the soldiers art, that makes this book so formidable. Max Hastings, Evening Standard. A masterpiece...One of those rare books which could still be required reading in its field a hundred years from now New Yorker. Our finest military historian has produced a book of breathtaking scope...A tour de force Niall Ferguson, Daily Mail. The best book I read in 1993 was A History of Warfare...A dazzling display of historical pyrotechnics Paul Johnson, Books of the Year, Sunday Times. Magnificent Sunday Telegraph.

The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece.

Classical scholars and military historians have long held that pitched infantry battle in ancient Greek society evolved as a necessary alternative to the more fundamental but exhausting business of warfare, which was the ravaging and destruction of crops - Victor Hanson turns all this on its head. This book continully relates the graphic details of Greek warfare to problems of conflict in our own society.

Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence.@@@War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage.@@@A History of Warfare.

This study is an analysis of the roots of human savagery, dealing with the fundamental questions of why the majority of violence is perpetrated by men, whether this is a matter of nature or nurture and whether anything can be done about it. The book provides some surprising answers, based on comparison of male violence among human and among mans closest relatives, the great apes. In three or four species, male violence is common, but the form of violence differs: male orangutangs tend to rape, male chimps wage war and male gorillas kill the offspring of other males. Only in the fourth species, the little-known bonobo, are males (as well as females) non-violent - females are co-dominant, there is no observable aggression between groups, and there is a high level and diversity of sexual activity. The findings are based on 30 years of field research on the behaviour and ecology of chimpanzees and other mammals in Africa.

The Battle for History: Re-Fighting World War II.

World War II killed 50 million people, destroyed swathes of Europes cultural heritage, devasted its economy, depraved its politics and devalues the very basis of its civilization. It was the greatest and most terrible conflict in history, and as such, it has always been the centre of controversy. This work explores the many differing historical views of World War II including biographies of its key players, pivotal campaigns, occupations and resistance and special subjects such as Intellignece and war economies.

German Democratic Republic

Harald, Dehne. Have We Come Any Closer to Alltag? Everyday Reality and Workers Lives as an Object of Historical Research in the German Democratic Republic. The history of everyday life: reconstructing historical experiences and ways of life, 1995.