War!

Is war useful? Is there no human culture without war? Does war bring peace and prosperity? Human societies have never used persuasion to achieve their goals, peaceful coexistence and economic growth have always been preceded by a bloody show of strength, explains British historian Ian Morris, who himself considers the "goodness" of war a paradox. At the same time, more and more research material and archaeological statistics suggest that wars have created peace and prosperity in larger and stronger societies, and that they have reduced the number of violent deaths through laws and power, and even through socio-cultural rearrangement. Morris mobilizes an astonishing amount of research material, from anthropology to warfare, to show the cyclical alternation of wars in human history that have been fertile (bringing peace, security, wealth, prosperity) and reversing (causing failure, regression, anarchy, chaos). The author’s interdisciplinary study focuses on the wars he learned from the struggles of his human ancestor in the 21st century to finally anticipate what awaits us in the age of cyber society. "The four most dangerous decades in world history," the historian says, "but it is up to us to learn from thousands of years of experience."