Systems of War and Peace

War and peace are as important as other institutions- science, politics, family, economy, religion, etc.- but rarely receive the same level of sociological attention. Systems of War and Peace covers this gap by presenting a coherent framework for understanding why and how wars start and end; what military organizations are, how they function, and where they came from; plus, how peace has been achieved in the past and how it can be achieved in the future.

Theodore Caplow is the Commonwealth Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia Louis Hicks is an associate professor of sociology at St. Mary's College of Maryland