Constant Battles

By Steven A LeBlanc, Katherine E Register,

Book cover of Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage

Book description

With armed conflict in the Persian Gulf now upon us, Harvard archaeologist Steven LeBlanc takes a long-term view of the nature and roots of war, presenting a controversial thesis: The notion of the "noble savage" living in peace with one another and in harmony with nature is a fantasy. In…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Constant Battles as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Wayne E. Lee

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This one too takes on a much longer sweep of human history than most, here focusing on the role of resource competition in generating and shaping war among humans around the world.

LeBlanc is an archaeologist who specialized in the desert Southwest of what's now the United States, and he is very concerned with the academic tendency to "pacify" the past. This is an excellent survey of the long role of war in societal competition, and the likely continued role of resource competition in wars to come.

From Wayne's list on war beyond the state.