When Men Lost Faith in Reason: Reflections on War and Society in the Twentieth Century

(Hardback)

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This examination of the history of the 20th century and the place of war in its unfolding presents an unorthodox interpretation of both. With provision for seeing 1945 as the proper starting point for the 20th century and 1968 as the year that marked the end of the Age of Reason, this study portrays World War I as the first war of the 20th century and World War II as the last war of the 19th. It also provides a counterview of World War II as merely one part of a series of conflicts that lasted between 1931 and 1975 and the Cold War as the time when real hatreds were suspended. Moving through various insurgency campaigns, Willmott subjects the Gulf campaign of 1991 to skeptical analysis.

Reviews

This book is a provactive, highly original, path-breaking, radical, and unorthadox interpretation of warfare in the twentieth century. H.P. Willmott's interpretations are compelling and persuasive....It is a book that cannot be ignored by those who want to remain on the top of their craft. Wilmott throws down the gauntlet and challenges military historians to reexamine long-held beliefs on twentieth-century warfare....This book should be mandatory reading in all Reserve Officer Training Corps programs, the military academies, the War College, Staff College, and wherever officers are trained. Libraries should have it. Scholars and students of military history should read it. Willmott wrote the book not as an end in itself, but a starting point to reconsider the face of conventional interpretations; however, this book is too important to be overlooked in the study of warfare.-The Historian
"This book is a provactive, highly original, path-breaking, radical, and unorthadox interpretation of warfare in the twentieth century. H.P. Willmott's interpretations are compelling and persuasive....It is a book that cannot be ignored by those who want to remain on the top of their craft. Wilmott throws down the gauntlet and challenges military historians to reexamine long-held beliefs on twentieth-century warfare....This book should be mandatory reading in all Reserve Officer Training Corps programs, the military academies, the War College, Staff College, and wherever officers are trained. Libraries should have it. Scholars and students of military history should read it. Willmott wrote the book not as an end in itself, but a starting point to reconsider the face of conventional interpretations; however, this book is too important to be overlooked in the study of warfare."-The Historian

Author Bio

H. P. WILLMOTT is a Lecturer with the Greenwich Maritime Institute at the University of Greenwich. He has written extensively on modern military and naval subjects, including the critically acclaimed, The Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War.