Choice 评论

To negotiate her territory, Krimmer (Univ. of California, Davis) divides her discussion into four parts, looking at the Napoleonic Wars, WW I, WW II, and Yugoslavia and Iraq. Those knowledgeable about German literature will recognize the important authors: Friedrich Schiller, Carl von Clausewitz, Heinrich von Kleist, Ernst Junger, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Boll, Gunter Grass, Elfriede Jelenek, and Peter Handke, among others. Some of these authors had military experience, among them Kleist, whereas others (e.g., Schiller) had none. Some embody war with myth (as in the case of Junger), some with victimization (Boll), others with accountability (Grass). But all, at one level or another, cast war as ennobling, sublime, cathartic, manly, and transformative. Most leave open the question of whether war can be eradicated (because it is subject to human agency) or is a natural disaster (outside human control). Krimmer discusses all this and also provides excellent endnotes and bibliography and a superb index. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. L. J. Rippley St. Olaf College