The Future of War: A History in Deep State Radio Book Group

May 06, 2018 Adam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: international-relations, strategy

This is the book that I wish I had read while taking international relations for my undergraduate degree. In "The Future of War," Freedman sets out to trace the predictions about the future of war made by statesmen, scholars, and intellectuals from the late-nineteenth century through the modern era to today.

Freedman covers a wide range of theorists and futurists. Giving as much reflection to prophetic value (or lack thereof) of 'invasion fiction' and science fictions writers like H. G. Wells as This is the book that I wish I had read while taking international relations for my undergraduate degree. In "The Future of War," Freedman sets out to trace the predictions about the future of war made by statesmen, scholars, and intellectuals from the late-nineteenth century through the modern era to today.

Freedman covers a wide range of theorists and futurists. Giving as much reflection to prophetic value (or lack thereof) of 'invasion fiction' and science fictions writers like H. G. Wells as he does to strategists and statesmen like Herman Kahn and Henry Kissinger, Freedman's book is as comprehensive and concise a detailing of European and American thought on war as I have ever read. I have read literature reviews of individual subjects like international security and international relations before, and I've always been particularly interested in how fiction writing can be used as an analytical tool to understand conflict, but never before have I seen someone manages to give as thorough a picture and history of the interdisciplinary study of war.

In particular, I appreciate his critical attention to both the heavy theoretical realist approaches to international relations personified by Kenneth Waltz and the more modern statistically oriented approach of scholars who use data sets like those maintained by the Correlates of War (COW) project. Freedman's advocacy for a more context-based and historical approach to the study of conflict is well taken and convincing. I always felt awkwardly more comfortable the methodologies prescribed by history and anthropology when I was an undergraduate studying international relations than I did with the large data sets and sophisticated quantitative techniques of modern political science, the overly broad and reductivist nature of which always put me ill at ease. After reading "The Future of War" I feel less guilty about not having bought into the statistics craze in my major.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in approaching the subject of conflict in a more systematic way. If you are new to the field, then "The Future of War" will offer you the roadmap that I wish I had 10 years ago. If you are like me and have been reading books about international conflict for a while, then Freedman's book will help you put your thoughts in context and fill in interdisciplinary blindspots. Either way, this book is well worth the read.

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Jan 15, 2018 Matt Heavner rated it really liked it

depressing, but a very comprehensive and informative look at this history of war and the history of trying to predict (and prepare for) the next war. Worth reading if you work in (or care about) national security

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Sep 17, 2018 John Mosman rated it really liked it

Shelves: political-science

This book is well detailed about how we think about war. The future covers warfare from WWI to today. Freedman covers what writers thought future war would become based on literature of the times. We think we know what war is but this book shows us we don't. The author gets into the weeds providing interesting and thought provoking ideas of how we looked at and now look at war. Well worth your interest. ...more

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