Acknowledgments ix
Preface: Requiem for the Universal Soldier xiii

1 Written in Blood: The Classical Greek Drama of Battle and the Western Way of War 1
2 Subtleties of Violence: Ancient Chinese and Indian Texts on Warfare 29
3 Chivalry and Chevauchee: The Ideal, the Real, and the Perfect in Medieval European Warfare 73
4 Linear Warfare: Images and Ideals of Combat in the Age of Enlightenment 111
5 Victories of the Conquered: The Native Character of the Sepoy 145
6 The Sun of Austerlitz: Romantic Visions of Decisive Battle in Nineteenth-Century Europe 179
7 The Merciless Fight: Race and Military Culture in the Pacific War 219
8 Crossing the Canal: Egyptian Effectiveness and Military Culture in the October War 281

Epilogue. Terrorism and “Evil”: Forming a New Discourse on War at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century 317

Appendix: The Discourse and the Reality of War: A Cultural Model 331

Notes 343
Index 385