The Ultimate Experience

For millennia, war was viewed as a supreme test. In the period 1750-1850 war became much more than a test: it became a secular revelation. This new understanding of war as revelation completely transformed Western war culture, revolutionizing politics, the personal experience of war, the status of common soldiers, and the tenets of military theory.

'Like a good detective story, Harari presents us with facts and clues which seem to lead towards one conclusion, only to puncture our certainties. This is a book of exraordinary wit, erudition, and range.' - Professor Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck College, University of London

Auteur
YUVAL NOAH HARARI is a military historian specializing in the study of war experience and war culture. He lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Contenu
Preface PART I: INTRODUCTION WAR AS REVELATION, 1865-2000 PART II: 1450-1740 THE SUPREMACY OF MIND Suffering, Death and Revelation in Early Modern Culture The Absence of Revelation from Early Modern Military Memoirs Why War Revealed Nothing PART III: 1740-1865 THE REVOLT OF THE BODY Bodies Begin to Think The Rise of the Common Soldier The Rise of the Revelatory Interpretation of War Conclusions: The Things Which Make You Know, 1865-2000 Works Cited