A highly original history, tracing the least understood and most intractable form of organized human aggression from Ancient Rome through the centuries to the present day.

We think we know civil war when we see it. Yet ideas of what it is, and what it isn't, have a long and contested history, from its fraught origins in republican Rome to debates in early modern Europe to our present day. Defining the term is acutely political, for ideas about what makes a war "civil" often depend on whether one is a ruler or a rebel, victor or vanquished, sufferer or outsider. Calling a conflict a civil war can shape its outcome by determining whether outside powers choose to get involved or stand aside: from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq, pivotal decisions have depended on such shifts of perspective.

The age of civil war in the West may be over, but elsewhere in the last two decades it has exploded--from the Balkans to Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and Sri Lanka, and most recently Syria. And the language of civil war has burgeoned as democratic politics has become more violently fought. This book's unique perspective on the roots and dynamics of civil war, and on its shaping force in our conflict-ridden world, will be essential to the ongoing effort to grapple with this seemingly interminable problem.

• We started tracking this book on February 12, 2017.
• This book was $13.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 53 times in the past 3,131 days.
• The current price of this book is $6.99 last checked one day ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past six months is $5.99.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $4.99.
• The lowest price to date was $4.99 last reached on October 14, 2024.
• This book has been $4.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $14.99 last reached on March 26, 2018.
• This book has been $14.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• Politics & Social SciencesPolitics & GovernmentPolitical ScienceHistory & Theory
• HistoryWorldRevolutionary
• Politics & Social SciencesPhilosophyPolitical
• FranceHistory & Theory

• Publication Date: February 7, 2017
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 310 Pages
• File Size: 53 KB