Book description
The third edition of Geoffery Blainey’s highly acclaimed study on the causes of war has been expanded and updated to include a complete discussion of World War II and the road towards nuclear war.
Analyzing all international wars since 1700, Causes of War solves the riddle of why some wars…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Causes of War as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I learned of this book reading The Peacemaker’s Code: Malhotra’s novel includes some of the peacekeeping concepts from The Causes of War.
Blainey’s main idea is that a major factor in war is a country being very optimistic about their chances of winning a war. And the problem there is that people often have distorted, overly optimistic ideas about their own abilities. They may not understand how much pain they and the people they care about might really be in for. Optimism can be deadly.
Blainey’s book is also great for learning about world history. And Blainey is frequently very…
If you love The Causes of War...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like The Causes of War?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Causes of War.
Share your top 3 reads of 2026!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
179
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Causes of War, you might also like...
Sexy Selfie Nation
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicit…
In This Together
In This Together explores how we can harness our social networks to make a real impact fighting the climate crisis. Against notions of the lone environmental crusader, Marianne E. Krasny shows us the power of "network climate action"—the idea that our own ordinary acts can influence and inspire those close…
