Warfare, Society and Culture

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Pickering & Chatto’s Warfare, Society and Culture series will fill a gap in the currently dynamic and growing military history market, by publishing works that integrate analysis of military operations and combat into wider social and cultural analysis, and that examine warfare as a more than European phenomenon. Warfare, Society and Culture invites titles comprising a period from the early modern era and its ‘military revolution’ to the early twentieth century.

The title for this series has been chosen with care. ‘Warfare’ is chosen rather than ‘war’, because the latter can be considered solely from a political perspective, or from the perspective of the preparations necessary for war to be conducted, without actually considering its conduct. But ‘warfare’ necessarily includes the actual business of war –– military operations, and how they are planned, controlled, supplied, and conducted, including combat. All these typically figured little or not at all in the ‘new military history’ of the 1960s and after.

‘Culture’ is included in the remit chiefly because culture is a nexus for warfare’s organisational and operational, its administrative and combative, aspects. Martial sub-culture influences enormously how war is waged; organisational culture moulds the efficiency of military institutions and the way they interact with their society; and of course attitudes to combat, military ethics, and war in general, are shaped by a society’s prevalent cultural values. In addition, examining conflicts as collisions between different, often competing cultures, affords a valuable addition to the standard political, ideological and economic perspectives.

The series is also intended to encompass more than Europe. From the very early sixteenth century, European expansion shaped military and naval institutional structures, and developments in technology and tactics, right around the world; and in turn the European ‘art of war’ was modified by American, African and Asian geography and martial practice.

Warfare, Society and Culture aims to encourage works that integrate considerations of the social context and dimensions of armies, navies, and the institutions that support them, with analysis of the actual business of those armies and navies –– i.e., waging war, especially the conduct of military operations.

Submissions are invited from established scholars, as well as advanced PhD and post-doctoral candidates, working in the field of ‘history of warfare’ in its most inclusive sense. Works accepted into the series will be scholarly monographs (80–100,000 words) of high quality and originality.
Proposals should be sent (in hard copy and by electronic attachment) to one of the series editors: Professor Paul E J Hammer, Department of History, University of St Andrews. St Andrews, Fife, Scotland KY16 9AL (pejh@st-andrews.ac.uk); Dr Louis Sicking, Department of History, University of Leiden, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA, Leiden, Netherlands (l.h.j.sicking@let.leidenuniv.nl); Dr Frank Tallett, Department of History, University of Reading, School of Humanities, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AA (f.tallett@reading.ac.uk); Dr David Trim, Newbold College, Binfield, Bracknell, Berks RG42 4A (dtrim@newbold.ac.uk). The editors will require a detailed proposal of at least 8–10 pages (including chapter outlines), along with the text of two sample chapters. It is envisaged that contracts will be offered to the most promising authors on this basis.

Readership

War Studies, Military History, Early Modern, Modern and Contemporary History

Editorial board

Paul E J Hammer is at the University of St Andrews.
Louis Sicking is at the University of Leiden.
Frank Tallett is at the University of Reading.
David Trim is at Newbold College.

Forthcoming titles

• Military Economics, Culture and Logistics in the Burma Campaign 1942–5

  Graham Dunlop

  (June 2009)

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To place a standing order for books in this or any other series email sales@pickeringchatto.co.uk. Please include the name of each series in which you are interested and indicate whether you have already bought earlier books in the series.