Author:Christopher Blattman
Why do human beings fight one another?
In this exhilarating and bracing book, we learn the common logic driving vainglorious monarchs, dictators, mobs, pilots, football hooligans, ancient peoples and fanatics.
Distilling decades of economics, political science, psychology and real-world interventions, and through his time studying Columbia, Chicago, Liberia and Northern Ireland, Christopher Blattman lifts the lid on the underlying forces governing war and peace.
Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Will China invade Taiwan and launch WWIII? And what can any of us do about it?
'Captivating and intelligent' Tim Harford
'Wise, intriguing, imaginative' Rory Stewart
'Nothing could be more relevant today than war and peace . . . an outstanding and original book on this topic' Martin Wolf, Financial Times
'Important, readable, radical' David Miliband
'A great storyteller with important insights for us all' Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge
'Essential for understanding the world we live in today' James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail
Blattman has produced a valuable guide, supported by engaging anecdotes, to what makes people turn to violence - and why, mercifully, they are usually too sensible to do so
—— EconomistWise, intriguing, imaginative
—— Rory Stewart, author of The Places In BetweenA great storyteller with important insights for us all
—— Richard Thaler, co-author of NudgeCaptivating and intelligent
—— Tim Harford, author of The Undercover EconomistAvoiding the useless dichotomies that either claim violence is an inseparable part of human nature or declare that humanity has all but conquered its proclivity to war, Blattman explains how human communities make use of many different strategies to resolve conflicts, and why these efforts sometimes stumble
—— Daron Acemoglu, co-author of Why Nations FailIf you've been a foreign correspondent for any length of time you end up wondering what has pushed so many of the societies you cover into conflict and what can be done to prevent a repeat. Why We Fight answers many of those questions . . . Contrary to expectations, it's an optimistic book . . . outbreaks of violence are the aberration, not the norm, and small, incremental measures can have a disproportionate impact when it comes to avoiding strife. Tinkering trumps transformation
—— Michela Wrong , Spectator Books of the YearImportant, readable, radical
—— David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue CommitteeEssential for understanding the world we live in today
—— James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations FailBrings together the passion of the activist and the cool head of the economist to offer practical solutions to one of humanity's most intractable problems
—— Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules – for NowTimely, powerful, hopeful
—— Paul Collier, author of The Bottom BillionBlattman deftly translates knotty ideas from game theory and social choice theory for a lay audience, weaving in colorful anecdotes from his own life and travels
—— Foreign AffairsCombines over-arching analysis and explanation with a ground-level reporter’s skill at narrating events and capturing character with vividness and compassion … a historian working at the height of his powers.
—— Michael Ignatieff , CEU Review of BooksIn this stunning feat of historical reconstruction, Jessie Childs brings England's brutal civil conflict to life, illuminating the human experience, and human cost, of this devastating war. A work of deep scholarship, The Siege of Loyalty House is gripping, moving, unputdownable
—— Thomas PennBeautifully written and gripping from first page to last. A sparkling book by one of the UK's finest historians
—— Peter FrankopanA thrilling, immersive read, especially searing in our own tormented and besieged times. Her beautiful writing drops the reader deep in the war, sees it through a cast of extraordinary characters from both sides of the terrible conflict, but most of all, shines with a compassionate understanding of human courage, folly, obstinacy and frailty, at times almost Tolstoyan in its emotional intelligence and literary power
—— Simon SchamaShe is a gifted narrative historian, eloquent, graceful and witty; the stories she tells are the ones we all should know
—— Hilary MantelChilds...has a good eye for evocative detail... [The Siege of Loyalty House is a] highly readable account [of the civil war]
—— Times Literary Supplement[Childs's] great strength is her ability to deliver first-rate scholarship in really luscious prose, [and she] uses Basing as a microcosm through which to view the civil war in all its fog and mess
—— GuardianEnthralling ... the sort of coup de théâtre that only the most brilliant archival research can pull off ... Few books on the Civil War convey so powerfully the human cost ... All this is done with such clarity and economy that her book doubles as a fine introduction to 1640s England as a whole, quite apart from the engrossing story of Basing House ... A magnificent achievement. Rarely has such fine-grained focus on a single event been used so effectively to open up wider perspectives on that fractious age. And as an account of what it was like to live through the bloodiest and most traumatic decade in England's history, it has few rivals
—— John Adamson , Catholic HeraldJessie Childs tackles this rolling tragedy with confidence and a clear eye ... There are wonderful character portraits throughout ... successfully brings the ghastliness of the period to life, dramatically, vividly and with pathos
—— Charles Spencer , SpectatorExtraordinary: meticulously researched, beautifully written, and heartbreakingly relevant. I urge you to read it
—— Helen CastorBrilliant. Original. Gripping.
—— Antonia FraserExtraordinary. Exhaustively researched and beautifully (and wittily) written, a thrilling and immersive tale that offers the reader a rare window into the terrifying events of the English Civil War when religion and ambition divided families, friends and neighbours. One of the finest books I've read for years, a stunning achievement
—— Saul DavidThe Siege of Loyalty House is not only deeply researched. Childs has composed a wonderfully poetic narrative and adds a touch of the gothic
—— Leanda de Lisle , The TimesThis heroic story has not been told before in such detail and with such an eye for the tragedies of civil war. Childs handles a remarkable amount of source material with masterly skill...Thrilling
—— Linda Porter , Literary ReviewGripping ... The accumulation and deployment of facts is impressive. The understanding of what they signify is profound. The elegance, wit and brio of the writing is sheer delight
—— Allan Mallinson , Country LifeThe Siege of Loyalty House is exciting and scholarly, vivid and accessible. It is a perfectly-crafted triumph of narrative history...one of the most pulsating books on seventeenth-century England I have read for many years
—— CriticIn Jessie Childs [Basing House] finds at last a writer able to bring out in full its excitement, pathos, glory and tragedy, with a deep political, military and social context. As so many of the defenders of the house were transplanted Londoners, it is a tale that links the heart of Hampshire to the heart of the capital. Local Civil War history does not get better than this.
—— Professor Ronald HuttonChilds brilliantly shows us the world of the civil war
—— Daily Telegraph, *Summer Reads of 2022*Enthralling... This is history as rip-roaring narrative. ... Both her previous books won awards, and I would be amazed if this does not make it a hat-trick
—— Art NewspaperFantastically well written
—— Sunday TimesA masterpiece
—— Monty DonJessie Child's The Siege of Loyalty House turns an English Civil War stand-off into a fable of murderous polarisation: gripping, timely history
—— Spectator, *Best Books of 2022 I*The Siege of Loyalty House ... tingles with a discerning historical imagination
—— Spectator, *Best Books of 2022 II*[A] thrilling tale of war
—— Mail on Sunday[A] gripping tale of a royalist house standing its grown against the Roundheads ... Atmospheric, unflinching, and at times extraordinarily witty
—— UK Daily News, *Best History and Politics Books of 2022*[A] poignant book... the story is timeless
—— Economist, *Books of the Year*Compelling
—— Spectator, *Books of the Year 2022*Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, [The Siege of Loyalty House] tells the story of the epic two-year siege of Basing House, a royalist mansion finally captured by Oliver Cromwell in 1645.
—— Daily Express, *Books of the Year 2022*When you are as good a writer as Jessie Childs, and as assuredly immersed in the archives, the pages zing with the technicolour of celluloid. ... [A] masterpiece.
—— Critic, *Non-fiction books of the year 2022*Childs writes an engrossing, spellbinding narrative while laying out a clear and comprehendible history
—— New York Journal of BooksThe broad subject of this poignant book is what happens to people during civil war: how quickly and imperceptibly order becomes chaos and decency yields to cruelty. In other words, how close to inhumanity humanity always is. The focus is on an episode in the English civil war, but the story is timeless
—— EconomistA gripping account of the agony at Basing, The Siege of Loyalty House is also a potted social history of the civil wars and how they started. Jessie Childs, [is] a gifted storyteller
—— London Review of Books