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Title: The Invention of Peace: Reflections on War and International Order by Michael Howard ISBN: 0-300-08866-3 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Another wonderful book from Michael Howard
Comment: This is,without question,my favorite book from Michael Howard. The book is under 100 pages and is very easy to understand. The ideas presente in this book are truly enlightening. Everyone should read this book! In a world where violence and war is becoming more acceptable, this book will offer a perspective that can give us hope of achieving piece. I have nothing negative to say about this book. It's worth twice the amount of what it cost. I would even go as far as saying you can't put a price on this book. In short,read this book!
Rating: 4
Summary: A beautiful intro to the history of peace
Comment: In this short book, Sir Michael Howard, a professor at Yale, discusses the history of peace; starting with a quote from Sir Henry Maine, "War appears to be as old as mankind, but peace is a modern invention," the author narrates how the concept of peace has evolved over time.
The first chapter starts at the crowning of Charlemagne in 800 AD and reaches up to the outbreak of the French Revolution; the second chapter goes up to the end of the Great War; the third chapter discusses the ideological conflicts of the twentieth century up to 1989; and the last chapter outlines some of the author's thoughts on what the future might hold in the quest for peace.
One of the book's drawbacks is that is often assumes prior knowledge: certain historical events are simply mentioned without background information (philosophies and ideologies, on the contrary, are thoroughly explained). A second, and more serious, drawback is the book's inexplicable starting point, with excludes both the Roman Empire and the era of Alexander the Great. Finally, the author has no notes or bibliography; for such a work, a "suggested reading list" or "selected bibliography" would have been greatly appreciated.
Still, the book is splendid and will appeal both to the expert and the layman. And its ultimate message, that peace is neither natural nor guaranteed, should be taken at heart by scholars and politicians alike.
Rating: 5
Summary: Oh humanity!
Comment: In a short and concise essay Micheal Howard explains why the universalist pretentions of idealists from many Western European countries are intellectually unsound. It is quite a strong bit of conceit that leads such misguided ideologues to believe that by simply imposing a Western European notion of peace through means of "internaltional law" war can be either outlawed or severely mitigated. Given that there are still a great many different cultures, with different views on peace, war, and the legitimacy of both, it is hard to imagine how to achieve the consensus necessary to legitimize such Kantian dreams. It is further a strong bit a irony that those who cry loudest for the imposition of their peaceful ideas on humanity as a whole also champion multiculturalist toleration, thereby implicity preserving the the very social structures that precludes the possibility for the establishment of a universally acceptable code of law. Even if this world-wide legitimacy were to be miraculously achieved sometime in the future, force would still be required to uphold it, as force is required to command obedience to cultural norms in all societies, no matter how homogeneous. "So although it is tempting to believe that as the international buorgeois community extends its influence a new and stable order will gradually come into being, we would be unwise to expect anything of the kind" (113). Unfortunately, wisdom is not seen as an impediment to sentimental action by the champions of the new juridical utopianism, who, having been forced to give up their previous attempts to legislate social justice by means of various past liberal ideologies, have moved on to international law. Although teleological theories of history have long been out of fashion in intellectual circles, the neo-Kantian dream remains strong among the self appointed moral elite.
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Title: The Lessons of History by Michael Howard ISBN: 0300056656 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The First World War by Michael Howard ISBN: 0192804456 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Causes of Wars and Other Essays by Michael Howard ISBN: 067410417X Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: May, 1984 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: War in European History by Michael Howard ISBN: 0192802089 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History by Philip Bobbitt ISBN: 0375412921 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 14 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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