From Library Journal
Highly polished and well illustrated, this book is a comprehensive history of the Western (European) way of war, spanning ancient Greece to today's modern methods and policies of destruction. Parker and six prominent American and British scholars contribute 17 chapters to this detailed study of war. Parker's effort explores the history of Western war through strategy and policy; tactics and logistics; finances and culture; weapons and fortifications; air, land and naval battle; and conventional and civil war. The text is superbly supported by numerous and handy sidebars providing details, insights, and anecdotes. Supplementing the text are a reference guide containing a rather subjective chronology of warfare, a pedestrian and slightly inaccurate glossary, and a marvelously described annotated bibliography. Parker's conclusion is historically based and particularly chilling. For the general reader.?Col. William D. Bushnell, USMC (Ret.), Brunswick, Me.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Book News, Inc.
A detailed, highly visual account of war in the West from antiquity to the present day, explicating and illustrating the controversial thesis that war in western societies has followed a unique path leading to western dominance of the world. The volume contains 17 chapters in four parts: the age of massed infantry; the age of stone fortifications; the age of guns and sails; and the age of mechanized warfare. Includes a chronology, glossary, and annotated bibliography. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Review
"...this book deserves close attention from the student of military affairs....The attractive volume makes imaginative use of diagrams, maps, and pictures, which serve far more than merely decorative purposes. In short, a valuable overview of the history of warfare, and a worthy companion of other fine one-volume surveys." Foreign Affairs

"Highly polished and well illustrated, this book is a comprehensive history of the Western (European) way of war, spanning ancient Greece to today's modern methods and policies of destruction....The text is superbly supported by numerous and handy sidebars providing details, insights, and anecdotes....Parker's conclusion is historically based and particularly chilling." Library Journal

"The volume's thesis, controversial for some, claims that it is the West's peculiar form of waging war that has led it to dominate so much of the globe. As the various essays in the book outline the development of war in the West, they very ably support that central thesis....copious illustrations--especially the battle plans and reconstructions....will be welcome reading to anyone who wants a broad overview of warfare." Bloomsbury Review


Book Description
The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare provides a unique account of Western warfare from antiquity to the present. The book treats all aspects of the subject from the Greeks to the nuclear age: the development of warfare on land, sea and air; weapons and technology; strategy and defense; discipline and intelligence. Throughout, there is an emphasis on the socio-economic aspects of war: who pays for it, how can its returns be measured, and to what extent does it explain the rise of the West to global dominance over two millennia? Geoffrey Parker is one of the world's leading authorities on military history and is the editor of The Times Atlas of World History (1993) and the author of The Military Revolution (Cambridge,1988).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare provides a unique account of Western warfare from antiquity to the present, The book treats all aspects of the subject from the Greeks to the nuclear age: the development of warfare on land, sea and air; weapons and technology; strategy and defense; discipline and intelligence.

Throughout, there is an emphasis on the socio-economic aspects of war: who pays for it, how can its returns be measured, and to what extent does it explain the rise of the West to global dominance over tow millennia?

FROM THE CRITICS

Foreign Affairs

￯﾿ﾽthis book deserves close attention from the student of military affairs￯﾿ﾽThe attractive volume makes imaginative use of diagrams, maps, and pictures, which serve far more than merely decorative purposes. In short, a valuable overview of the history of warfare and a worthy companion of other fine one volume surveys.

Bloomsbury Review