Copy of my review from GoodReads

An elegant, extremely well-written book about war - history, causes, excuses and aftermath.

Frederic Gros' prose reads like a French dissertation. The structure is impeccable, each point is supported by historical examples (or recent events, like the current war between Russia an Ukraine). Tangents are reduced to a minimum, making for a very efficient read.

This is a short book, the type that you can read in an evening. Ideally, you want to be in the comfort of your home, cuddling your favorite blanket, and extremely comfortable.

You will feel more intelligent after reading it. But first and foremost, you will feel grateful. Grateful, because (as brilliantly elaborated by Hobbes) war is motivated by greed, fear, or vanity. You probably live in a country that is *not* at war - and for that, you are lucky. Because, despite all appearances and propaganda, war is a horrible thing. There is no good war, no "just" war. Even wars for greed will probably cost more than whatever the winning power will gain (especially accounting for lost lives). War is a tragedy, and an extremely costly one. It sure takes a long time for humanity to learn its lessons.

Thank you #NetGalley and Verso books for the ARC. And thank you Frédéric Gros for an excellent book.