Postmodern War (Critical Perspectives) - Hardcover

From Operation Desert Storm to the conflict in Bosnia, computerization and other scientific advances have brought about a revolution in warfare. This book shows how our high-tech age has spawned both increasingly powerful weapons and a rhetoric that disguises their apocalyptic potential in catch phrases like "smart weapons, " "cyberwar, " and "bloodless combat." A skillful combination of trenchant cultural study, provocative illustrations, and engrossing military, technical, and historical analysis, Postmodern War sheds new light on the ways we conceptualize and conduct war today. Analyzing the dynamics of conflicts from Afghanistan to Vietnam, Gray reveals the human forces of nationalism, greed, fear, and images of masculinity beneath the surface of trendy military doctrines such as "pure war" and "infowar." If we can identify and challenge the discourses of war, he persuasively argues, we can propose new discourses to replace them.

Chris Hables Gray is a 10th generation Californian who received his BA from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from the History of Consciousness Board at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 1991. Since then he has been a fellow at the Oregon State University (OSU) Center for the Humanities, a NASA History Fellow, and an Eisenhower Fellow at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. His teaching experience includes lecturing at UCSC, guest professorships at OSU and Masaryk, and two years with Goddard College. Currently he is an associate professor of Cultural Studies of Science and Technology and of Computer Science at the University of Great Falls, Great Falls, Montana where he lives with his wife Jane Lovett Wilson and their two sons, Corey and Zachary.