I'm looking for a book about the real reasons for various wars.

[raccoon]

I don't know if such a book exists, but it should.

I've been reading about WWI, and one reason mentioned for the US getting involved
in it is that the US had loaned a lot of money to the UK and France and if they lost the
war, the US would never get the money back. To me that has the ring of truth to it.

Every war I've ever heard of, there is an official reason for going to war (WMD, for instance)
and a REAL reason. The real reasons don't sound as noble as the official reason.

So...can anyone direct me to a book about this?

[Neoma]

1. If I can't find one, you should write it.

I'll get back to you tomorrow about if there is one like that.

[rocktivity]

2. Oil, Money, God, Revenge.

The end.

You're welcome.


rocktivity

[pscot]

3. War and peace

Seriously. Tolstoy was a pacifist. He had a theory of history and he used Napoleon's invasion of Russia to expand on his ideas. The people he writes about are ordinary people swept up in the war. People make out that it's hard to read because of the names, but really it's about 3 families and the circles they move in; their marriages and money trouble; trying to figure out how they fit into the world. It's not a lot more complicated than reading Jane Austen, and like Austen, Tolstoy is a very great writer with a deep understanding of how people behave and why. it's one of those books that seems better each time you read it. I found a free copy for my e-reader at Project Gutenberg

[Zorro]

14. Great book

I read it decades ago. I recall it took getting through the first 250 pages or so before it gets really absorbing, though. Couldn't quite get into Anna Karenina the same way.

Gutenberg is a great resource for reading classic literature from the past several centuries for free. I've been quite entertained reading H. Rider Haggard's writings, among many others.

[bemildred]

4. "The Politics of War" by Walter Karp

Then there is "The March of Folly" and "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchman
And "A Peace to End all Peace" by Fromkin

[oldandhappy]

5. Ken Follett

is writing a three book series about this. The first one and second one are out. The third one will be out in the fall of 2014. Check at your library. You may have to wait a few weeks as the books are more popular than I would have guessed. Well researched and well written.

[raccoon]

6. Are you referring to "Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy" and the

other books in the same trilogy?

PS--I wish I'd thought of your handle before you did!

[oldandhappy]

7. Yes. I may read the first two again while waiting for number three. Good stuff.

[oldandhappy]

8. Maybe you can be happy and old! Smile.

[Sweeney]

9. The natural conservatism

of all of humanity keeps them from striking out for justice in their own lands, so they suffer injustice until they have the opportunity to export injustice, and take justice from others.
Sweeney

[larry-cur]

10. One book and one thought

Take a look at "The Untold History of the United States" by Oliver Stone at al. It will give some insight into the U.S. reasons for involvements of various sorts in the past 100 years.

On a more basic level, as long as there is a differences between self and others or us and them or our team and their team (etc.) there will be fruit for conflict which can and often does lead to attempts at an aggressive solution.

Good luck in your quest.

[lovemydog]

11. The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman

might be a good place to start. It's a great read.

Another essential one is A People's History of the American Empire, by Howard Zinn.

[PufPuf23]

12. A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East

by David Fromkin is a great book about WWI and the aftermath that linger to the present.

http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805088091/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433257659&sr=1-1&keywords=The+War+to+End+All+Peace

[Auggie]

13. Not quite what you're looking for, but ...

I found Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow particularly interesting.

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring Reagan's radical presidency, the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the scope of American military power to overpower our political discourse.
Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seri­ously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a "loud and jangly" political debate about our vast and confounding national security state.