On Wars

Michael Mann is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Honorary Professor at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of the award-winning book series The Sources of Social Power and of Incoherent Empire, Fascists, and The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. He lives in Venice, CA.

“Ambitious. . . . On Wars is an enlightening haul for much of its journey and a brisk read too.”—Fred Kaplan, New York Times Book ReviewA History Today Book of the Year, 2024“This is not just an ambitious study of war through history but an attempt to work out how to avoid it. . . . [Mann has] given us a sobering account of a human trait that shows no sign of going out of fashion.”—Melanie McDonagh, The Standard“Masterful and monumental, Michael Mann’s new book shows how destructive and delusional it has been, throughout history and across the world, to try achieving one’s end through war.”—Andreas Wimmer, author of Waves of War“The greatest comparative historical sociologist of our time here considers the motivations for warfare in the world and through recorded time. The result is breathtaking, and shocking in its normative challenges—particularly in its no-hold-barred attack on the ‘realism’ of international relations specialists.”—John A. Hall, McGill University“Mann explains why wars happen although they seldom achieve their ends, whether material aggrandizement or altruistic ideals. On Wars again shows why Mann is the Max Weber of our time.”—Randall Collins, author of Explosive Conflict: Time Dynamics of Violence