Why Do People Fight Wars?

Review also includes:

Why Do People Harm Animals?, Chris Mason, 978-0750237185

This series (‘Ideal for Citizenship’ each volume tells us) aims to provide ‘all the facts you need to make up your own mind about the subject’, and facts a-plenty are provided. Wars looks at much more than reasons for the origins of war, including the types of war that we fight, rules, tactics and crimes of war, its impact and aftermath, its resolution and prevention, the involvement of children and the fate of refugees. Similarly Animals goes well beyond intentional cruelty – embracing farming methods, aquaculture, animals at work and as pets, as well as the more predictable zoos, circuses, fur-trapping and fox-hunting.

Well-illustrated presentation is supported by useful and relevant addresses (both postal and web) to provide an objective array of facts and current opinions around each subject. The authors have successfully avoided imposing their own thoughts or characters on their works, which makes them unattractively impersonal to read but reinforces their value as research sources. So, Inspiring? – no, Sound? – yes, ‘Ideal’? – well on the way.