From Above

Peter Adey is Reader in Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Mobility (2009) and Aerial Life (2010). Mark Whitehead is Reader at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, and author of, inter alia, State, Science and the Skies: Governmentalities of the British Atmosphere (2009). Alison Williams is Lecturer in Human Geography at the school of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University and the author of numerous articles on 'vertical geopolitics'.

'Being above - using aircraft to loiter within the atmosphere or on the edge of space - has long been recognised as a definitive means of gaining military and strategic advantage over those bound by the earth's surface. The last century has witnessed countless episodes of annihilation and killing by states and militaries from up in the sky. But how can we approach the deep connections between verticality, violence and war? From Above - a dazzling and definitive collection - provides the answers. Bringing together the very best thinkers from Geography, Cultural Studies, Art Theory and Political Science, the result is an extraordinary and searing book. Here, for the first time, is a volume which fully excavates how targeting and killing from above was invented, generalised and rendered completely normal in the past century and a half. A must-read for anyone concerned with the nature of contemporary political violence.'