Robert L. O'Connell is Senior Analyst at the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency's Foreign Science and Technology Center. He is a former member of the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

"This book will read with pleasure by specialists and military history buffs alike....No one can accuse O'Connell of ever boring his reader....O'Connell's comments are always stimulating....[A] most interesting and thoughtful book."--L.H. Gann, The International History Review

"O'Connell, a man with impressive credentials as a defense analyst, disarmament negotiator, and historian, has produced a challenging, interdisciplinary study of the historical relationship between culture, weapons technology, and warfare."--Booklist

"Full of fresh and sometimes provocative interpretations, couched in a stimulating writing style which laypersons as well as scholars will appreciate."--Library Journal

"Brilliant general history, focusing on man as a tool-making social predator. Particularly good on intelligence, communications, and decision-making in the electronic and nuclear age."--Theodore Ropp, Duke University

"O'Connell's judicious study of the evolution of arms from sticks and stones to death-dealing rifles, machine guns, and cannons, and, finally, to nuclear weapons demonstrates that weaponry, however destructive, has neither prevented wars nor encouraged restraint in its employment."--Norman A. Graebner, University of Virginia

"Stimulating....A lucid and well-written account of how weapons and warfare have changed over the millennia."--Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[A] welcome addition...The particular insight which distinguishes Mr. O'Connell's work from others is his examination of human belligerence from a perspective normally reserved for anthropologists and biologists."--Naval War College Review

"Most readable. Adaptable to either a history of a Western culture class."--R.T. Paytan, West Washington University