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Ride of the Second Horseman: The Birth and Death of War
In Ride of the Second Horseman, Robert O'Connell probes the distant human past to show how and why war arose. He begins with a definition that distinguishes between war and mere feuding: war involves group rather than individual issues, political or economic goals, and direction by some governmental structure, carried out with the intention of lasting results. With this definition, he finds that ants are the only other creatures that conduct it - battling other colonies for territory and slaves. But ants, unlike humans, are driven by their genes; in humans, changes in our culture and subsistence patterns, not our genetic hardware, brought the rise of organized warfare. O'Connell draws on anthropology and archeology to locate the rise of war sometime after the human transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to agriculture, when society split between farmers and pastoralists.
Book Details
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publish Date: Oct 23rd, 1997
- Pages: 320
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.20in - 6.02in - 0.80in - 1.03lb
- EAN: 9780195119206
- Categories: • Military - General• Military Science• Anthropology - General
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About the Author
Robert L. O'Connell is a senior intelligence analyst with the National Ground Intelligence Center, and a contributing editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. His previous publications include Of Arms and Men and Sacred Vessels. He lives in Ivy, Virginia.
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Praise for this book
"A thoroughly provocative, readable and absorbing study which makes [the] reader reflect on man's motivations....Read his book for pleasure and wisdom."--The Washington Post"A wonderfully original book on war, a genuinely synthetic argument that weaves together ideas from a wide array of disciplines. It deserves to be read and pondered."--Times Literary Supplement"[An] interesting study of why people have gone to war over the years."--Star-Ledger"Exhaustive and superb analysis....Thoughtful, well-written....Highly recommended."--Library Journal"Intelligently speculative, and passionately humane--and entertaining--as Arthur C. Clark's 2001: Our Childhood's End, but it is made out of real history."--John Casey, author of Spartina and recipient of the National Book Award"This highly fascinating study of the origins of war weaves biological, psychological, anthropological, and archeological discoveries into an original history of organized fighting. The author finds the central pillar of war in the rise of agricultural communities with their accumulting lands and wealth that invited marauders and ultimately invasions of huge armies and empire builders. At the end changes in demography, economic organization, and weaponry eliminated much of the rationale and taste for war. The long passage from prehistoric raids of horsemen to nuclear war is, in O'Connell's hands, an intriguing and enlightening venture."--Norman A. Graebner, Professor of History and Public Affairs, University of Virginia