War Books & Reviews

Mohandas and the Unicorn

Patrick French | Jun 21, 2011
Gandhi cuts a saintly figure in the modern imagination. Joseph Lelyveld’s controversial biographical account presents a more dispassionate perspective of the Father of the Indian Nation. An exaggerated creation myth is revealed.

Howling Down Lord Lansdowne

Margaret MacMillan | Apr 19, 2011
Our risk-averse culture regards the Great War with pity and horror. Adam Hochschild too adopts this war-is-hell view. But nationalism, patriotism and camaraderie motivated Europe’s citizens to take up arms.

Have Gun, Will Travel

Richard Overy | Oct 20, 2010
The story of the AK-47 reads like a Stalinist myth. Whether it's true or not, the gun is a sure sign of humanity's penchant for violent solutions to conflict.

Qutb and the Jews

Benny Morris | Oct 20, 2010
The conventional wisdom says Sayyid Qutb is the forefather of modern-day Islamic fundamentalism. What is less known is how the thinker's intense anti-Semitism and contempt for female sexuality contributed to this vulgar worldview.

Revolutionaries Inside the Capitol

Richard Norton Smith | Aug 24, 2010
America's founding is a gripping tale of rivalry, treachery and ultimately triumph. The divisive politics of today are nothing compared to those now celebrated on the cliffs of Mt. Rushmore.

Punditry at the Drive-Thru

David Rieff | Aug 24, 2010
Peter Beinart's books represent the intellectual equivalent of what nutritionists call the empty-calorie principle.

America Under the Caesars

Michael Lind | Jun 28, 2010
Anti-interventionists allege our leaders traded a strong, austere republic for a weak and sprawling empire predicated on a military might that could not match our own ambitions. This narrative negates real threats and real victories.

A Warrior Ethos

Bing West | Jun 28, 2010
Counterinsurgency is not a cure-all. Local allegiances will always trump the might of the invader. Washington’s insistence that the troops turn Kabul into a functioning democracy will only erode the military's fighting spirit.

Passions of Pope Victor

Philip Jenkins | Dec 16, 2009
As Europe secularized and the global South becomes the new market for potential converts, Christianity is undergoing a painful evolution.

The Willing Misinterpreter

David Rieff | Oct 28, 2009
Despite Goldhagen's extraordinary claims, he himself concedes in his unwittingly revealing afterword that he is not presenting much in the way of original research.

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May 26, 2012