Book Review : The Meaning of War (Ian Mortimer Keynote Speeches) by Ian Mortimer

The Meaning of War (Ian Mortimer Keynote Speeches)The Meaning of War by Ian Mortimer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Insightful and thought provoking with respect to our modern concepts and viewspoint on the nature of war compared with how our forbears would have seen it.

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Book Synopsis

‘Official’ Book Description


This is the text of a lecture delivered at the University of Southampton on 1 August 2015 as part of the official Agincourt 600 commemorations.

We have a great difficulty when looking at war historically. Society overwhelmingly looks at war in a negative light. Yet for most of human history, those who have talked about war or been responsible for administering it have been much more positive. This lecture looks at the changing nature of war in terms of those who fought, the religious context, why men and women women took up arms, and the roles of leaders, and shows how the nature of war in the Middle Ages was fundamentally different from modern conflict and, in many respect, a positive strategy – so much so that it is to war that we owe much of our understanding of our own humanity.