Böcker av Geoffrey Best

Originally published in 1976, this book explores the relationship between European society and the military institutions it fostered from 1815-1918.In the period from the fall of Napoleonic imperialism to the outbreak of the First World War armies and navies grew in complexity, cost and size. The first half of this book investigates these institutions from within, and looks at some of the factors which held them together in an increasingly difficult and hostile world, at their self-image, and at the pressures upon them from society at large.As the role of military institutions within society increased in importance, analysts began to look for the effects which this interpenetration had on society. Part 2 is concerned with the effects of this growing dominance of society by its defenders. By the end of period covered by this book, the age of total mobilisation for the war effort was upon us. In a sense this second part of the book reinforces the conclusions of the first, that military institutions are separate from the societies which surround them, and between the two a growing gap of misunderstanding and incomprehension yawned.

This 1964 account of the foundation and growth of Queen Anne's Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners shows how much they had to do with the great changes in the administration and political relations of the Church of England, which transformed the Church from a virtually medieval to a modern institution.

To no group subject to sociological and political analysis has honour seemed to matter more than to the military. The degeneration of this concept and of the public realm in which honour's obligations have to be observed is the subject of this book, based on the 1981 Joanne Goodman Lectures at the University of Western Ontario.

One of the most approachable and useful books on the period.

Winston Churchill's inspiring leadership in the Second World War once put him above criticism. This book makes sense of this extraordinary man and his controversial and heroic career. It brings out Churchill's strengths and weaknesses, looking at the many received versions of Churchill, and offers a fresh insight into his character.