by John A Lynn
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Product Description
Battle: A History of Combat and Culture spans the globe and the centuries to explore the way ideas shape the conduct of warfare. Drawing its examples from Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and America, John A. Lynn challenges the belief that technology has been the dominant influence on combat from ancient times to the present day. In battle, ideas can be more far more important than bullets or bombs. Carl von Clausewitz proclaimed that war is politics, but even more basically, war is culture. The hard reality of armed conflict is formed by - and, in turn, forms - a culture's values, assumptions, and expectations about fighting. The author examines the relationship between the real and the ideal, arguing that feedback between the two follows certain discernable paths. Battle rejects the currently fashionable notion of a "Western way of warfare" and replaces it with more nuanced concepts of varied and evolving cultural patterns of combat. After considering history, Lynn finally asks how the knowledge gained might illuminate our understanding of the war on terrorism.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Essential reading for anyone interested in military history, 2008-10-07
Awesome book! Lynn's model on the discourse versus the reality of war is invaluable for every student of military history. Even though this is high level scholarship the book is very reader friendly. Apart from creating his own model Lynn should also be given credit for effectively disarming Victor Davis Hanson's thesis on a "western way of war".
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Thoughtful, 2007-04-20
This very good book is devoted to the ways that larger culture influences how different societies wage war. Lynn presents a series of essays looking at how classical Greece, ancient China, Enlightenment Europe, and others waged war and the ways warmaking reflects important cultural features. Lynn thoughtfully analyzes both the actual practice of war and whatever theoretical ideas these societies produce about war, and discusses thoughtfully the interactions between the two. Lynn vigorously attacks technological determinism as an explanation for differences in the way wars have been fought. The overall theme is well supported by his specific analysis and examples. For example, he has a very nice discussion of von Clausewitz as someone writing in the Romantic intellectual tradition. He is careful also not to overemphasize cultural features. One chapter is a very good critical discussion of the role of racism in the Pacific in WWII, where I think he shows well that the role of racism has been overemphasized by other writers on this topic. Lynn also criticizes other writers who have argued for a cultural determinism of war, notably the classicist Victor Davis Hanson's idea of a "Western Way of War." Lynn shreds this and related arguments. As Lynn shows well, there is no substitute for careful, critical, and highly specific analysis that pays attention to all factors and their interactions.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Battle Joined, 2007-03-09
John Lynn's "Battle" is a well-written and incisive
look at an important historical subject. In a time
of war, it is an important reminder of the lessons of
history. Colorful examples and thoughtful commentary
can be found throughout this tremendous work.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A Cultural view of Military History, 2006-02-28
A very interesting discourse on the culture of warfare. He brings an interesting point of view to the table regarding how our culture determines the way we go to war. There has been some discussion on a 'western' way of going to war. And his analysis begins with the Greeks first defining the western way. ==From the Greeks he discusses some aspects of the ancient Chinese and other Eastern aspects, and goes on to discuss where East has fought West around the world.
Over time also the ways of warfare have changed. To an extent this has come from equipment, but also from basic cultural differences between the fighting forces. The cultures of France and Germany were certainly different in the Ardennes in 1940. And the cultural differences between the Japanese and the Americans were immense.
During the long Cold War, the cultures of the USSR and the USA were different, yet surprisingly close when compared with today's cultural differences between al Queda and the rest of us.
19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting analysis ... until the Epilogue, 2005-12-22
"Battle" appears to be written as a direct challenge to Victor Davis Hanson and John Keegan, two of the world's best known military and classical historians. Dr. Lynn's book is well written and well organized, and provides a fascinating overview of his thesis on how cultural discourse affects the waging of war by societies. He aggressively asserts that there is no "Western" (or other non-Western) Way of War, rather that each culture's interpritation of war and battle shapes its values and how it fights its wars. His work deserves great consideration, but I will not go so far to say that he necessarily "disproves" the analysis put forward by Hanson or Keegan. Regrettably, his book would receive more stars were it not for his Epilogue concerning the War on Terrorism. The Epilogue reads more like a treatise from the editorial pages of the New York Times and less like a sober understanding of the challenges this unique War presents. His choice of source material for the Epilogue includes Maureen Dowd, Richard Clark and Gen. Anthony Zini. Dowd cannot be taken seriously, and Clark has been thoroughly discredited. Zini is in the mold of Gen. Wesley Clark. By stepping in to this highly politicized debate and adopting the positions of those so firmly on the Left, it undercuts my opinion of his otherwise interesting and informative work. However, it deserves to be read by those who share Hanson's and Keegan's analysis, as it is a worthy challenge.
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