A monumental, groundbreaking work, now in paperback, that shows how technological and strategic revolutions have transformed the battlefield

Combining gripping narrative history with wide-ranging analysis, War Made New focuses on four “revolutions” in military affairs and describes how inventions ranging from gunpowder to GPS-guided air strikes have remade the field of battle—and shaped the rise and fall of empires.

War Made New begins with the Gunpowder Revolution and explains warfare’s evolution from ritualistic, drawn-out engagements to much deadlier events, precipitating the rise of the modern nation-state. He next explores the triumph of steel and steam during the Industrial Revolution, showing how it powered the spread of European colonial empires. Moving into the twentieth century and the Second Industrial Revolution, Boot examines three critical clashes of World War II to illustrate how new technology such as the tank, radio, and airplane ushered in terrifying new forms of warfare and the rise of centralized, and even totalitarian, world powers. Finally, Boot focuses on the Gulf War, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the Iraq War—arguing that even as cutting-edge technologies have made America the greatest military power in world history, advanced communications systems have allowed decentralized, “irregular” forces to become an increasingly significant threat.

马克斯·布特。Max Boot(born 1969)历史学家。获奖著作《为了和平的野蛮战争：小规模战争与美国威权的兴起》的作者，美国对外关系委员会高级成员。从事国家安全问题研究。并任《洛杉矶时报》外交专栏周评员。他定期在多所军事院校进行讲座，同时就军事转型问题为美国国防部提供咨询。