Overview

This book raises questions about the just war tradition through a critical examination of its revival and by juxtaposing it with a literary phenomenology of war. Recent public debate about war has leaned heavily on a just-war tradition dating back many centuries. This book examines the recent revival of that tradition in the United States and Britain, arguing that it is less coherent and comprehensive as an approach to the ethical issues arising from war than is generally supposed, and that it is inconsistent in important ways with the theology on which it was originally based. A second line of criticism is mounted through close readings of modern texts in English - from Britain, Australia and the USA – that together constitute a more subjective, bottom-up understanding of the moral dilemmas of military life. In this second tradition the task of representing war is seen as more problematic, and its rationality more questionable, than in just war discourse. Works by William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, James Fennimore Cooper, Stephen Crane, John Buchan, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, Tim O’Brien and Kurt Vonnegut are featured. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of security studies, military studies, theology and international relations.

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9781138125872

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Reviews

Charles Jones is a creative and distinctive thinker who has developed a style of exposition that is all his own. An absorbing book that tackles the thornier questions of just war theory with an engaging treatment of some of the more interesting personalities of the literature on war. Masterful in scope and ambitious in design - the result is a genuinely entertaining read. Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, LSE, UK This book is a rarity - imaginative, provocative - in a crowded field of titles about ethics, war and justice. It affirms the ethical importance of the stories we tell in ways that deserve a wide readership. Roger Epp, Professor of Political Science, University of Alberta, Canada. Charles Jones presents a fascinating interpretation of the issues of morality in warfare: by considering issues of theology as well as literary interpretations of the subject of war, Jones' work will shape discussion of the just war tradition for years to come. Phillip W. Gray, Visiting Assistant Professor, Liberal Arts Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar.

Charles Jones is a creative and distinctive thinker who has developed a style of exposition that is all his own. An absorbing book that tackles the thornier questions of just war theory with an engaging treatment of some of the more interesting personalities of the literature on war. Masterful in scope and ambitious in design - the result is a genuinely entertaining read. Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, LSE, UK This book is a rarity - imaginative, provocative - in a crowded field of titles about ethics, war and justice. It affirms the ethical importance of the stories we tell in ways that deserve a wide readership. Roger Epp, Professor of Political Science, University of Alberta, Canada. Charles Jones presents a fascinating interpretation of the issues of morality in warfare: by considering issues of theology as well as literary interpretations of the subject of war, Jones' work will shape discussion of the just war tradition for years to come. Phillip W. Gray, Visiting Assistant Professor, Liberal Arts Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar.

Author Information

Charles Jones is Director of the Centre of Latin American Studies, Emeritus Reader in International Relations and Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK.

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