Reviews for Jurgen Brauer. War and Nature: The Environmental Consequences of War in a Globalized World. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.

"Globalization has brought benefits to many, but these benefits have not come without costs. One of the hidden costs has been the increasingly negative impact of violent conflict on the environment. War and Nature provides a fresh perspective on this problem, drawing on concrete examples from Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Central Africa, and Afganistan. This evidence-based approach effectively provides guidance on how best to avoid environmental degradation in time of war, providing useful tools for politicians, peace-makers, and even the military. This book deserves wide circulation and broad discussion by both practitioners and academics." —Jeffrey A. McNeely, Chief Scientist, International Union for Conservation of Nature

"War and Nature makes a major contribution to the literature. The scholarship is exemplary and the author's command of the relevant literature is remarkable. This book should be required reading within governmental ministries of foreign affairs, environment, and defense. Officials and practitioners in intergovernmental agencies and international NGOs would also benefit from taking this book's information and message to heart." —Arthur H. Westing, Former Director of the Project on Peace, Security and Environment of the United Nations Environment Programme

Reviews for Jurgen Brauer and Hubert van Tuyll. Castles, Battles & Bombs: How Economics Explains Military History. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2008 [paperback 2009].

"My skepticism was relieved by the preface, my expectations enhanced by the first chapter, my confidence assured by the second. This study is serious, creative, important. As an economist I am happy to see economics so professionally applied to illuminate major decisions in the history of warfare." —Thomas C. Schelling, University of Maryland, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

"Rarely does reading a book offer such rewards ... Cast in Jared Diamond's mold, Brauer and Van Tuyll's work transported this economic historian across centuries and into realms that opened my eyes and engaged my imagination, both as a historian and as an economist. My understanding of a past I thought I knew has been broadened and deepened and my teaching of that past forever altered. I enjoyed the journey. I am in the authors' debt." —John J. McCusker, Trinity University

"The title immediately excites interest and this book does not fail. It provides an ambitious coverage of the economics of military history from the High Middle Ages of 1000-1300 to modern times, including World War II, the cold war, and terrorism. The result is fascinating insights and novel applications of economics. This book should be essential reading for all students of economics." —Keith Hartley, Centre for Defence Economics, University of York

"This study of the economic dimensions of war deals with a broad range of complex issues that often go unnoticed in military history or are left off to the margins or out of focus. Brauer and Van Tuyll offer insights into such variegated issues as cost-benefit analysis, information asymmetry, diminishing marginal returns, capital-labor substitution, and with special timeliness, the role of private military companies, focusing on the condottieri of the High Renaissance. Castles, Battles, and Bombs is likely to strike many sparks among economists, military professionals, and students of war in general and provide fresh perspectives at a time when dimensions and definitions of war are changing rapidly." —Roger Beaumont, Texas A&M University