Heroism and the changing character of war

Heroism and the changing character of war: toward post-heroic warfare? Edited by Sibylle Scheipers. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2014. 400pp. £70.00. ISBN 978 1 13736 252 0. Edward Luttwak's idea of ‘post-heroic warfare’ is the central thread running through this edited collection by Sibylle Scheipers. In his influential Foreign Affairs article in 1995 (‘Toward post-heroic warfare’, Foreign Affairs 74: 3), Luttwak wrote of a post-Cold War shift in warfare, characterized by new forms of conflict and the reduced appetite of western societies to see the loss of service personnel in military operations. In the absence of decisive victories, he argued, western interests might best be served by an acceptance of partial results and more modest military ambitions. This book challenges and critiques this post-heroic concept with a diverse and interesting compilation of essays. Based on a conference held in 2011 by the Changing Character of War Programme at Oxford University, it unites prominent military historians, psychologists, sociologists and International Relations theorists in one interdisciplinary work

Character (mathematics · Cold war · Foreign policy · International relations · Media studies · Modern warfare · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Classics · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · History · Law · Military History and Strategy