Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present - Hardcover

O'Connell, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684844079 ISBN 13: 9780684844077

Publisher: Free Press, 2002

Synopsis

In an elegantly illustrated volume, a noted historian reveals culture, society and history through the saga of war and its implements. Mankind's history has been determined by war. And throughout history, the way that wars are won and lost, and whether they are fought at all, has been determined more by weapons than any other single force. Before there was man, there were weapons. In his investigation of arms and culture, noted military historian Robert O'Connell goes all the way back to the first weapons: the claws, horns, and hooves of our evolutionary antecedents. Even then, a species' weaponry determined its future. So it has been for the human animal. From the ancient Assyrians' conquest of bronze, to the Toledo steel of the Spanish conquistadors, to the MIRV missiles of nuclear deterrence, the great weapons have set their own agendas. They continue to shape our culture and our lives today. THE SOUL OF THE SWORD gives world history from a club, gun, or aircraft carrier's perspective. Along the way, sidebars and drawings from premiere military illustrator John Batchelor illuminate the weapons themselves. In this fascinating book O'Connell unearths the extraordinary weapons of our past, and explains our most basic weapons as never before. Our killing tools are much more than fearsome curiosities; they are the engines of history.

About this title

About the Author

Robert L. O'Connell is a novelist, military historian and contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. He is also a senior intelligence analyst at the National Ground Intelligence Centre in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he lives.

Reviews

This history of the implements of war by a contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History stands to satisfy the armchair historian and the sedentary strategist alike. Not only does O'Connell (Of Arms and Men) introduce such hardware as pachyderm armor, and then go on to describe the use of elephants as a kind of proto-Panzer division in early warfare, he dissects the utility of the practice as well. (Elephants, it turned out, were dangerously unpredictable in combat and panicked easily.) In this way, he demonstrates how each weapon, whether spear or flamethrower or firearm, leads to another weapon, how each action results in a re-action and how the evolution of war continues to spiral towards weaponry of ever-greater mass destruction. The tome is peppered with interesting illustrations, though not nearly enough of them, and the author manages a pleasingly measured tone throughout. Overall, O'Connell offers an erudite but accessible history of weapons and their employ.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Noted military historian O'Connell follows up his quirky monograph on the evolution of war (Of Arms and Men) with this fascinating history of weapons. From the use of a sharpened stick by prehistoric humans to today's warfare by virus, O'Connell succinctly traces the vast history of weapons and in the process explains how major conflicts and strategies have been affected by weaponry. Chapters cover everything from the arrival of weapons in the agricultural age, the impact of horses on warfare, and the age of steam to the rapid advancement of weaponry in World Wars I and II, weapons of mass destruction developed during the Cold War, and the latest stage of high-tech weaponry, while extensive sidebars focus on specific advances in weaponry. Throughout, O'Connell's captivating writing is surprisingly witty, given the serious nature of the subject. This book complements O'Connell's earlier works on the history of warfare, provides the narrative supplement to Edwin Tunis's Weapons: A Pictorial History, and makes this subject more approachable than Geoffrey Parker's The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare. Highly recommended for all academic military history collections and larger public libraries. Dale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A foremost popular military historian and professional defense analyst here joins forces with a foremost military illustrator, John Batchelor, to produce a superior addition to library military collections. O'Connell's text traces not only the technology of weapons, from the flint hand ax to the atomic bomb and the precision-guided munition, but also the cultural influences bearing on the discovery, development, tactical and strategic use, and often overly long retention of a variety of weapons. He tends to support the thesis seasoned military readers already may have reached, that no weapon is as effective as it is expected to be, except for those that are more so. Provided with a bibliography that is up to the high standards of the text, the book is fully accessible to neophyte military buffs yet also contains valuable information and even tactical surprises for seasoned veterans. Certainly one of the most valuable volumes, if not the most valuable volume, of military history thus far this year. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684844079
• ISBN 13: 9780684844077
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Batchelor John
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400