A review by katreads2022
War: How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan

dark informative slow-paced

3.25

War should have been written by a sociologist, not a historian. The subject of this book: “how conflict shapes us” is far too broad of a topic and calls for more sociological analysis than historical retelling. Dr. MacMillan attempts to examine multiple facets of war and its effects on human nature- however, her examples are oddly specific and glaringly Eurocentric. For a book claiming to at least gently touch upon the human proclivity to war it’s extremely misguided to almost exclusively focus on European history. The Western part of the world wars and obscure 17th century British wars loom disproportionately large in this novel. Wherever an interesting case study from non-Western sources emerges MacMillan chooses instead to pivot to yet another passage from an Edwardian English soldier. This might seem tedious- and it is. You would think that a novel with such unending possibilities would be more interesting. Aside from a few well-written tidbits, much of Wars is overdone military history without much greater insight.