Combining insights from evolutionary psychology with a broad sweep through history, down to the ideological civil war ripping the United States apart, the book explores the deeper roots of people's inability to accept claims about reality which come from the opposite ideological camp, no matter how valid they might be. After theorists around 1960 proclaimed the 'death of ideology', ideological divides and clashes have reemerged with renewed intensity throughout the world. In the United States they have become particularly venomous. Each side in America's escalating ideological civil war charges the other with concocting 'fake news' and 'alternative facts'. The other side is widely viewed as malicious, irrational or downright stupid, and, often, as barely legitimate. People are deaf to claims about reality that come from the opposite camp, no matter how valid they might be. The zeal of the opposing sides is often scarcely less than that which characterized the religious ideologies of old. Indeed, historical religious ideologies have largely been replaced by 'secular religions' or 'religion substitutes'. Ideology consists of normative prescriptions regarding how society should be shaped, together with an interpretive roadmap indicating how this normative vision can be implemented in reality. Ideological Fixation is the result of tensions and conflicts between these two elements. The book focuses on ideologies' factual claims about the world, typically subordinate to, and often distorted by, their normative commitment. In exploring this phenomenon, the book combines insights from evolutionary psychology regarding the nature of some of our deepest proclivities with a broad sweep through history and around the world. It proceeds from the Stone Age to the rise of civilization, the great religions and modernity, to a critique of fundamental factual premises that underlie some of the major debates dominating today's liberal democracies, not least the United States.

Ideological Fixation: From the Stone Age to Today's Culture Wars

History

Gat, Azar

World

Oxford University Press

This scholarly and original study of military thought during the nineteenth century focuses on the wider conceptions of war, strategy, and military theory which dominated the West in this period. Azar Gat's penetrating analysis uncovers the intellectual assumptions and picture of the past which underlay military policy and practice.

The Development of Military Thought: The Nineteenth Century

Military

Clarendon Press

This book sheds new light on the origins and nature of modern military thinking. The ideas of Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831)-which remain at the core of strategic analysis today-have previously been examined apart from their 18th-century cultural and philosophical roots. Gat here demonstrates the extent to which culture affects military theory by relating a series of military thinkers to their cultural backgrounds. He also provides a provocative critique of Clausewitz's classic work On War, and demonstrates how the major currents of modern military thought have evolved from the cultural frameworks and historical outlooks of both the German Movement and the Enlightenment.

The Origins of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to Clausewitz (Oxford Historical Monographs)

Europe

In this ground-breaking study, Dr Azar Gat investigates the fascist background behind the ideas of the leading theorists of mechanized war in the first half of this century. He re-evaluates the contribution of B.Liddell Hart, presenting him as the pioneer of the modern western liberal way in warfare, a man who developed the theory of the tactical `cold war' in the decade before nuclear weapons became a military reality.

Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and Other Modernists

This book sheds new light on the origins and nature of modern military thinking. The ideas of Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831)--which remain at the core of strategic analysis today--have previously been examined apart from their 18th-century cultural and philosophical roots. Gat here demonstrates the extent to which culture affects military theory by relating a series of military thinkers to their cultural backgrounds. He also provides a provocative critique of Clausewitz's classic work On War, and demonstrates how the major currents of modern military thought have evolved from the cultural frameworks and historical outlooks of both the German Movement and the Enlightenment.

Science & Math

Technology

Azar Gat sets out to resolve one of the age-old questions of human existence: why people fight A marked shift in the balance between these options has occurred since the onset of the industrial age. Rather than modern war becoming more costly (it hasn't), it is peace that has become more rewarding. Scrutinizing existing theories concerning the decline of war--such as the 'democratic peace' and 'capitalist peace'--Gat shows that they in fact partake of a broader Modernization Peace that has been growing since 1815. By now, war has disappeared within the world's most developed areas. Finally, Gat explains why the Modernization Peace has been disrupted in the past, as during the two World Wars, and how challenges to it may still arise. They include claimants to alternative modernity--such as China and Russia--anti-modernists, and failed modernizers that may spawn terrorism, potentially unconventional.

The Causes of War and the Spread of Peace: But Will War Rebound?

Reference

Why do people go to war? Is it rooted in human nature or is it a late cultural invention? How does war relate to the other fundamental developments in the history of human civilization? And what of war today--is it a declining phenomenon or simply changing its shape? In this sweeping study of war and civilization, Azar Gat sets out to find definitive answers to these questions in an attempt to unravel the riddle of war throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. In the process, the book generates an astonishing wealth of original and fascinating insights on all major aspects of humankind's remarkable journey through the ages, engaging a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology and evolutionary psychology to sociology and political science. Written with remarkable verve and clarity and wholly free from jargon, it will be of interest to anyone who has ever pondered the puzzle of war.

War in Human Civilization

From the ideas of Clausewitz to contemporary doctrines of containment and cold war, this is a definitive history of modern military thought. A one-volume collection of Azar Gat's acclaimed trilogy, it traces the quest for a general theory of war from its origins in the Enlightenment. Drastically re-evaluating B.H. Liddell Hart's contribution to strategic theory, the author argues that in the wake of the trauma of the First World War, and in response to the Axis challenge, Liddell Hart developed the doctrine of containment and cold war long before the advent of nuclear weapons. He reveals Liddell Hart as a pioneer of the modern western liberal way in warfare which is still with us today.

A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War

In this truly global study, major military historian Azar Gat sets out to unravel the "riddle of war" throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. In the process, the book generates an astonishing wealth of original and fascinating insights on all major aspects of humankind's remarkable journey through the ages, engaging a wide range of disciplines.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

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Books by Gat, Azar

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gat, Azar. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ideological Fixation: From the Stone Age to Today's Culture Wars

Ideological Fixation: From the Stone Age to Today's Culture Wars

The Development of Military Thought: The Nineteenth Century

The Origins of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to Clausewitz (Oxford Historical Monographs)

Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and Other Modernists

The Origins of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to Clausewitz (Oxford Historical Monographs)

The Causes of War and the Spread of Peace: But Will War Rebound?

War in Human Civilization

A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War

War in Human Civilization