The persuit of power - W.H. McNeill

Published in 1983 in paperback by Basil Blackwell, this 405 page volume 'The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force and Society since AD 1000' by William H. McNeill was intended by the author as a twin publication to his earlier work 'Plagues and Peoples'. Whereas 'Plagues and Peoples' looked at human populations and their interaction with microparasites (e.g viruses, germs, organisms, etc), this book enquires along the lines of macroparasites, that is other men specialized in violence or antisocial behaviour and who secure a living through that behaviour pattern without themselves producing the food or commodities they consume (or contributing energies into that process). Therefore a study of macroparasitism among the human population turns into a study of the organization of armed force with special attention to changes in the kinds of equipment warriors used. Alterations in armaments resemble genetic mutations of microorganisms in the sense that they may, from time to time, open new geographic zones for exploitation, or break down older limits upon the exercise of force within the host society itself. The book looks at how weaker communities and nations may suffer large losses of life in combat with better organized, stronger communities. It looks at the ambivalence in warfare for human communities - the acts of prowess, bravery and courage, not forgetting self-sacrifice on the one hand; whilst on the other hand there is repugnance for the organized and deliberate destruction of life and property, particularly given the quantum leap in the human capacity to kill impersonally and at a distance since the first atom bombs were dropped in 1945. The industrialization of war, scarcely more than 100 years old, has erased the old realities of soldiering without altering the ancient, inheritied psychic aptitudes for the collective exercise of force. This constitutes a dangerious instability-how can armed forces, weapons technology and human society continue to coexist?

Voor de inhoud: zie de foto's 2 en 3.

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