War and Technology

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is author of more than 100 books including Fighting for America: The Struggle for Mastery in North America, 1519-1871 (IUP, 2011) and War and the Cultural Turn. Black received the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History in 2008.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: The Key Themes1. Early Modern Western Warships: Technologies of Power Projection and Lethality2. Gunpowder Technology, 1490–18003. Firepower, Steamships, Railways, Telegraphs, Radio: Technologies of Killing, Logistics, Command, and Control, 1775–19454. The Internal Combustion Engine: The Technology of Decentralized Power, 1910–20135. A New Sphere: Air Power, 1903–20136. Revolution, Transformation, and the Present7. Into the FutureConclusionsPostscriptNotesSelected Further ReadingIndex

"Students will find this book a most useful introduction to a very complex subject, and particularly valuable for its notes and references to other works. Provocative and vigorously argued, Black's book will stimulate professional discussion and debate, particularly on the subject of military revolutions, always welcome in the defense community and to those who seek to understand the complex interplay of technology and warfare. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice"Specialists will appreciate Black's insightful analysis."—Publishers Weekly"...[F]or those interested in diving into these realities behind military history, this book is thoughtful and valuable."—Library Journal"An interesting, thought provoking work by a major military historian . . . whose depth and wide range of knowledge across the entire sweep of world military history is without parallel. . . . Those who read this book closely will be richly rewarded for it is a mine of useful information and grist for discussion."—Spencer C. Tucker, author of The Great War, 1914–1918"Clear, concise, and thoughtful. An eminently readable synthesis of historical literature on technology and war . . . with analyses of the limitations of the impact of technology on warfare."—John France, author of Perilous Glory: The Rise of Western Military Power