Humanizing Hell

"[A] brilliant new book . . . Humane provides a powerful intellectual history of the American way of war. It is a bold departure from decades of historiography dominated by interventionist bromides." —Jackson Lears, The New York Review of Books A prominent historian exposes the dark side of making war more humane In the years since 9/11, we have entered an age of endless war. With little debate or discussion, the United States carries out military operations around the globe. It hardly matters who’s president or whether liberals or conservatives operate the levers of power. The United States exercises dominion everywhere. In Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, Samuel Moyn asks a troubling but urgent question: What if efforts to make war more ethical—to ban torture and limit civilian casualties—have only shored up the military enterprise and made it sturdier? To advance this case, Moyn looks back at a century and a half of passionate arguments about the ethics of using force. In the nineteenth century, the founders of the Red Cross struggled mightily to make war less lethal even as they acknowledged its inevitability. Leo Tolstoy prominently opposed their efforts, reasoning that war needed to be abolished, not reformed—and over the subsequent century, a popular movement to abolish war flourished on both sides of the Atlantic. Eventually, however, reformers shifted their attention from opposing the crime of war to opposing war crimes, with fateful consequences. The ramifications of this shift became apparent in the post-9/11 era. By that time, the US military had embraced the agenda of humane war, driven both by the availability of precision weaponry and the need to protect its image. The battle shifted from the streets to the courtroom, where the tactics of the war on terror were litigated but its foundational assumptions went without serious challenge. These trends only accelerated during the Obama and Trump presidencies. Even as the two administrations spoke of American power and morality in radically different tones, they ushered in the second decade of the “forever” war. Humane is the story of how America went off to fight and never came back, and how armed combat was transformed from an imperfect tool for resolving disputes into an integral component of the modern condition. As American wars have become more humane, they have also become endless. This provocative book argues that this development might not represent progress at all.

Traven argues that universal moral beliefs and emotions shaped the evolution of international laws that protect civilians in war.

25. Agenda for Action.

Now more than ever, public servants must consider and reassess how to keep moral courage in public life alive. With ethical expectations and needs changing and government policies under increasing moral scrutiny, Claire Foster-Gilbert of Westminster Abbey Institute gathers a series of essays and lectures by herself and others, exploring the meaning of 'moral code' in today's public service, and how it can be rekindled in practice. Timely and timeless, the book is founded on traditional values of honesty, moral rigour and neighbourliness, and discusses how to champion stability, peace, community and virtue in contemporary public life. The authors, including eminent figures such as the former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, historian Peter Hennessy, former First Secretary of State William Hague and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, explain how realistic compromises can be balanced with clear goal-setting for ideal results. Forward-thinking and authoritative, this book will be a precious resource to anyone seeking to boost the circulation of integrity throughout all aspects of public life.

In the first volume of a two-volume set, Canadian historian Kantowicz describes the events, people, and ideas driving the world's social and political course through two world wars, the Holocaust, revolutions, depressions, and other phenomena. Covers from the beginning of the century through World War II; Coming Apart, Coming Together will presumably take the story from there. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A gripping chronicle of the personal and national rivalries that led to the twentieth century’s first great arms race, from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie With the biographer’s rare genius for expressing the essence of extraordinary lives, Massie brings to life a crowd of glittery figures: the single-minded Admiral von Tirpitz; the young, ambitious Winston Churchill; the ruthless, sycophantic Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow; Britain’s greatest twentieth-century foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey; and Jacky Fisher, the eccentric admiral who revolutionized the British navy and brought forth the first true battleship, the H.M.S. Dreadnought. Their story, and the story of the era, filled with misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and events leading to unintended conclusions, unfolds like a Greek tragedy in this powerful narrative. Intimately human and dramatic, Dreadnought is history at its most riveting. Praise for Dreadnought “Dreadnought is history in the grand manner, as most people prefer it: how people shaped, or were shaped by, events.”—Time “A classic [that] covers superbly a whole era . . . engrossing in its glittering gallery of characters.”—Chicago Sun-Times “[Told] on a grand scale . . . Massie [is] a master of historical portraiture and anecdotage.”—The Wall Street Journal “Brilliant on everything he writes about ships and the sea. It is Massie’s eye for detail that makes his nautical set pieces so marvelously evocative.”—Los Angeles Times

The quantity of journalism produced during World War I was unlike anything the then-budding mass media had ever seen. Correspondents at the front were dispatching voluminous reports on a daily basis, and though much of it was subject to censorship, it all eventually became available. It remains the most extraordinary firsthand look at the war that we have. Published immediately after the cessation of hostilities and compiled from those original journalistic sources-American, British, French, German, and others-this is an astonishing contemporary perspective on the Great War. This replica of the first 1919 edition includes all the original maps, photos, and illustrations, lending an even greater immediacy to readers a century later. Volume X features personal sketches by war leaders, the formulation of postwar treaties, a chronology of the war, and the index for all 10 volumes. American journalist and historian FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY (1851-1919) was literary editor of The New York Times from 1892 through 1896. He wrote and lectured extensively on history; his works include, as editor, the two-volume Great Epochs in American History Described by Famous Writers, From Columbus to Roosevelt (1912), and, as writer, the 10-volume Seeing Europe with Famous Authors (1914).

'The Dawn of a New Era', as some rejoiced, 'a printer's error in the history of mankind', as others loathed. From the day Czar Nicholas' Peace Rescript surprised a divided world, the First Hague Peace Conference has evoked irreconcilable responses. A predictable failure in the disarmament debate, a distinct leap ahead in curbing the Moloch of War, its lasting repute is linked to its brainchild, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the cradle of The Hague's present claim as self-imposed Juridical Capital of the World. By all accounts, this 'First Parliament of Man' opened the door to the International Era & man's ultimate dream, 'The Federation of the World'. The 1899 Hague Peace Conference pays tribute to this historical assembly. It deals comprehensively with the genesis, proceedings, & outcome of this first diplomatic encounter of its kind, in the political heart & royal residence of a small, yet ambitious nation. It details the substance matter of the Conference, to put a check on the armaments spiral, to restrain the evils & control the customs of war, & to provide for the peaceful settlement of disputes. Enlarging on the intense debate in committees large & small, the publication likewise echoes the splendour of the ceremonial sittings of the Plenary, that 'New Areopagus' gathered in the House in the Wood, itself the glorification of the Peace of Westphalia, its exotic drawing rooms & celebrated canvasses the pinnacle of arts & crafts of the Dutch Golden Age. On top of this, the work colourfully portrays to a man the full hundred delegates, politicians, diplomats, jurists, & military men, luminaries of the day most of them, & highlights some of their astounding addresses. It introduces the world of pacifists, led by Bloch, Stead, & Von Suttner, who gravitated in great numbers to the hotels of repute at the luxury seashore resort. In a wealth of anecdotes distilled from diaries, memoirs & magazines, this jubilee book pictures in gorgeous detail the splendid social entourage of royal receptions, public dinners & cultural excursions. Lavishly illustrated with scores of ravishing pictures it sketches The Hague of the Belle Epoque, the world of Mesdag & Couperus. Based on primary sources & in-depth research, this commemorative publication is an essentially multi-disciplined approach to a pivotal diplomatic venue, a sweeping legal debate, & a breath-taking social event. Arthur Eyffinger's book on the 1899 Hague Peace Conference was awarded the Certificate of Merit for High Technical Craftsmanship. The Committee stated: "The book was painstakingly researched & richly descriptive, reflecting archival research at its best. Eyffinger recreates the Hague Peace Conference for a contemporary audience, incorporating historical & political context & art, as well as the text of a wealth of original documents. Readers are genuinely transported back to another world, in a way that helps them better appreciate this one."