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Rating: 
Summary: More Liberal Trash
Review: I read this book several years ago and I was immediately struck by how brilliant it was. I recommended it to all my friends, and I just can't understand why this isn't required reading yet. One of the best and most important books of our time and virtually nobody is reading it. Could it be that Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal are right? Our government thrives off of war? Is this book being intentionally held distant from a public long tired of fighting wars for the rich and the powerful?
Rating:
Summary: More Liberal Trash
Review: I was hoping that this book would provide me with some insight into how individuals are actually affected by war, but this book is nothing more than a forum for the author to express his blatent anti-war opinions. As a psychologist myself, I found this book to contain no real psychology, and the author's statements and accusations were not bolstered by any solid research. If you are interested in reading about the true psychology of war, I would not recommend this book. It is nothing more than a bunch of liberal opinion about what's wrong with war.
Rating: 
Summary: You Need this Book
Review: There are plenty of good books on strategy and the history of warfare. But a good, easy to follow book on the psychology of war is the proper place to begin. LeShan's The Psychology of War is a useful, short non-scholarly book. The first hardcover edition lacked a general bibliography and an index. An Index has been added to the new expanded edition. For those others of you having only the 1st edition, The Psychology of War is now a searchable book here on Amazon. I should say that the book does have good footnotes, all gathered together at the end, and which list many useful sources. I am not surprised by the negative reviews this book has received here. These reviewers appear to be in the grips of the very sort of thinking that LeShan describes as "mythical." No one is immune from mythical thinking, even psychologists. Get with it, people. War maybe makes you feel good, like you're doing something, but it doesn't really create good. Ask yourself what need does the war fulfill? Is it the need to be in control? The need to belong to a powerful group? The need to spread democracy? The need to end terrorism? The need to immolate others and ourselves for a vague, long-term, impossibly utopian end? Then ask yourself what in our life has failed that we need this particular war? Have we really been failed by homeland security? Has the UN failed us? Has religion failed us, failed to make us feel secure and happy? Violent solutions like war come out of known human impulses. They range from greed to loneliness, to sadism, to a search for justice. A little self-examination on a national level might reveal some of these impulses, and I bet they aren't pretty. Remember, I'm talking about impulses, not the noble, official stories. LeShan's book is an excellent introduction. You won't look at the news or listen to political speeches the same way after you've read it. And if it has an obvious bias, it's the bias of reason and analysis applied to the universal problem of war.
Rating:
Summary: A Waste of Time
Review: This book is a sheer waste of time. It as nothing to do with why we, as human beings, make war. It is just a base for the author's anti-war sentiments and liberalist ideals. In essence, this book is a just a pendantic essay showing the author's incredible ill-sense but there are some good sections which consist of quotes that are more valuable than the author's opinion. His views on why we cause war is completely one-sided and not original and his ideas on the formation of alternative realities is narrow and does not sound like a psychologist. Do not waste your time and money on this book. Better buys would be the writings of John Keegan, Carl Von Clausewitz and Mao Tse-Tung. These are just some of the examples that can help anyone form an idea of why we make war that is more relevant than the author's.
Rating:
Summary: A Waste of Time
Review: This book is a sheer waste of time. It as nothing to do with why we, as human beings, make war. It is just a base for the author's anti-war sentiments and liberalist ideals. In essence, this book is a just a pendantic essay showing the author's incredible ill-sense but there are some good sections which consist of quotes that are more valuable than the author's opinion. His views on why we cause war is completely one-sided and not original and his ideas on the formation of alternative realities is narrow and does not sound like a psychologist. Do not waste your time and money on this book. Better buys would be the writings of John Keegan, Carl Von Clausewitz and Mao Tse-Tung. These are just some of the examples that can help anyone form an idea of why we make war that is more relevant than the author's.
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