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There Will Be War #2
Men of War
High tech war -- and how to avoid it
The answer is simple: you would have peace? Then prepare for war. This wisdom is as old as armies. Yet after a few generations, the peace that was paid for with soldiers' blood comes to seem the normal thing, the ordinary thing, and the guardians of peace come to be the symbol of it's opposite.
That is the theme of the second volume in this series: in the future as in the past, you must _guard_ your peace, or there will be war.
In times of danger, survival isn't easy. It takes intelligence, strategy-- and a certain ruthlessness on the part of leaders who know that public safety depends on public strength.
Every society will have it's wars. Thus every society must have it's army -- or be prepared to surrender to one.
The answer is simple: you would have peace? Then prepare for war. This wisdom is as old as armies. Yet after a few generations, the peace that was paid for with soldiers' blood comes to seem the normal thing, the ordinary thing, and the guardians of peace come to be the symbol of it's opposite.
That is the theme of the second volume in this series: in the future as in the past, you must _guard_ your peace, or there will be war.
In times of danger, survival isn't easy. It takes intelligence, strategy-- and a certain ruthlessness on the part of leaders who know that public safety depends on public strength.
Every society will have it's wars. Thus every society must have it's army -- or be prepared to surrender to one.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
66 people are currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Pournelle
263 books548 followersDr Jerry Eugene Pournelle was an American science fiction writer, engineer, essayist, and journalist, who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte, and from 1998 until his death maintained his own website and blog.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 21, 2018
An interesting anthology of varying quality. I found the military science articles to be distracting, because they were too often derailed into pats on the back for the theories that had been proven correct by that point in time, rather than real, solid information. For instance, the arguments against the "Mutually Assured Destruction" theory of defense were interesting, but seemed based on the idea that we should have had a nuclear war by now, according to the theories presented. Since we didn't, that took a little bit of strength out of the arguments.
The short fiction included some older classics and some new pieces written for the collection, and the latter were a mixed lot. The David Drake piece bothered me a bit while I was reading it, although it came out okay by the end. "Allamagoosa," while technically military SF, was more correctly "bureaucracy SF," and a very funny story. Two days after reading the anthology, I had to look up the names of the other contributors of short stories, because none was all that memorable. Still, the asnthology was readable, with a few highlights and nothing unreadable.
The short fiction included some older classics and some new pieces written for the collection, and the latter were a mixed lot. The David Drake piece bothered me a bit while I was reading it, although it came out okay by the end. "Allamagoosa," while technically military SF, was more correctly "bureaucracy SF," and a very funny story. Two days after reading the anthology, I had to look up the names of the other contributors of short stories, because none was all that memorable. Still, the asnthology was readable, with a few highlights and nothing unreadable.
October 4, 2017
A solid read
Although I enjoyed its predecessor more, "There Will Be War Vol. II" succeeded in entertaining and informing me. The insights to military theory in the nonfiction were especially engaging.
Although I enjoyed its predecessor more, "There Will Be War Vol. II" succeeded in entertaining and informing me. The insights to military theory in the nonfiction were especially engaging.
October 6, 2017
Another good collection of stories and articles. Some of the articles are a bit dated but still of interest and the thoughts on ballistic missile defense seem even more relevant now. My main complaint would be that, like all anthologies, many of the stories I have read elsewhere.
January 19, 2020
Some good or even excellent stories (Eric Frank Russell's Allamagoosa for example) intersperesed with some now dated but even then reactionary essays on military power, wars etc. Read for the stories only!
April 17, 2020
A reasonable collection of military science-fiction and military non-fiction.
July 11, 2021
Second anthology volume of military fiction and real essays about the Korean war, the Cold War, and lessons from Vietnam.
April 2, 2023
I'd give it four stars for the sci-fi. The other pieces are interesting in the historical sense, but dated now.
June 25, 2023
War in space.
A lot of theoretical research and articles. The sci fi stories are oldies but goodies, I read almost all of them before, still good.
A lot of theoretical research and articles. The sci fi stories are oldies but goodies, I read almost all of them before, still good.
July 31, 2009
Another good collection. Not quite as many big names but Drake and Anderson are still here, along with Clarke. It didn't really matter, though, even the lesser known writers turned out good stories for this series.
December 14, 2012
There Will Be War #2
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews