Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present

This history of the implements of war by a contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History stands to satisfy the armchair historian and the sedentary strategist alike. Not only does O'Connell (Of Arms and Men) introduce such hardware as pachyderm armor, and then go on to describe the use of elephants as a kind of proto-Panzer division in early warfare, he dissects the utility of the practice as well. (Elephants, it turned out, were dangerously unpredictable in combat and panicked easily.) In this way, he demonstrates how each weapon, whether spear or flamethrower or firearm, leads to another weapon, how each action results in a re-action and how the evolution of war continues to spiral towards weaponry of ever-greater mass destruction. The tome is peppered with interesting illustrations, though not nearly enough of them, and the author manages a pleasingly measured tone throughout. Overall, O'Connell offers an erudite but accessible history of weapons and their employ.