"No other book combines so much of modern military history with so rich an exploration of related factors in industry, finance, education, and technology, as well as statecraft. Combining strands of history from all these areas, Pearton makes an unusually complete and cogent case for the breakdown of traditional distinctions between the civil and the military, and even between war and peace. This is an excellent work of military and economic history."--Russell F. Weigley, author of The American Way of War. "Pearton's historical approach adds needed depth and perspective to many contemporary discussions of the arms problem. . . . This is an illuminating and incisive inquiry into a phenomenon of unquestioned importance."—International Affairs.

Considering the relationships between war, technology, and modern society, this book fuses military and social history concerning the use of organized violence between states during the period since 1789. Thirteen essays look at the military use of technology on and off the battlefield, the introduction of total war (during the two world wars), and the possibility of limited war in the nuclear age. The experiences of the British military are emphasized. Contributors include historians, archivists, psychologists, and military scholars. c. Book News Inc.

Investigating the logic, conduct and nature of war on the highest political and strategic levels, these essays put less emphasis on operational and tactical aspects. They look at the impact of technology on warfare, the political nature of war and the limits of rational analysis in studying war.

This book explores the relationship between the state and war within the context of seismic technological change. As we experience a fourth industrial revolution, technology already exerts a huge impact on the character of war and military strategies in the form of drones and other types of ‘remote’ warfare. However, technological developments are not confined to the defence sector, and the diffusion of military technology inevitably also affects the wider economy and society. This book investigates these possible developments and speculates on their ramifications for the future. Through its analysis, the book questions what will happen to war and the state and whether we will reach a point where war leads to the unmaking of the state itself.

A challenge to the central theme of the existing histories of twentieth-century Britain, that the British state was a welfare state, this book argues that it was also a warfare state, which supported a powerful armaments industry. This insight implies major revisions to our understanding of twentieth-century British history, from appeasement, to wartime industrial and economic policy, and the place of science and technology in government. David Edgerton also shows how British intellectuals came to think of the state in terms of welfare and decline, and includes a devastating analysis of C. P. Snow's two cultures. This groundbreaking book offers a new, post-welfarist and post-declinist, account of Britain, and an original analysis of the relations of science, technology, industry and the military. It will be essential reading for those working on the history and historiography of twentieth-century Britain, the historical sociology of war and the history of science and technology.

During an era in which the pace of technological change is unrelenting, understanding how international politics both shapes and is shaped by technology is crucial. Drawing on international relations theory, historical sociology, and the history of technology, Geoffrey L. Herrera offers an ambitious, theoretically sophisticated, and historically rich examination of the interrelation between technology and international politics. He explores the development of the railroad in the nineteenth century and the atomic bomb in the twentieth century to show that technologies do not stand apart from, but are intimately related to, even defined by, international politics.

Argues that society pushes for technological change that, in turn, shapes society.

With contributions from leading scholars in the field, this book examines France's strategies for protection against Germany and appeasement during this period, and places interwar relations in a larger European context.