War and Law since 1945 [Paperback]

Civilization has long tried to limit the violence and cruelty of war. This important new book by a leading authority on ethics and war traces the recent history of these efforts, and explores key contemporary issues in this area. Best shows how the Second World War prompted reconstruction of international law, and charts the fortunes of its relations with war since then. He surveys the whole range of post-1945 armed conflict--high-tech international wars, wars of national liberation, revolutions, and civil wars--to offer an original and thought-provoking approach to contemporary history, law, politics, and ethics.

A comprehensive and realistic treatise...An important contribution. --CHOICE

This is an important book, which the specialists in this subject will refer to for decades to come. --Sunday Telegraph

[An] ambitious, highly significant and courageous new book...Interdisciplinary in approach, it is an important text for teachers, students and the practitioners of international relations alike...Its conclusions, so relevant to the latter part of this century, must not be ignored. --The IrishTimes

[A] wide-ranging treatise. --Times Higher Education Supplement

An important book that should attract the attention of policy-making and activist circles in addition to the usual scholarly ones. --American Historical Review

Geoffrey Best traces with impressive analysis and citiation the general development of an international law of war. --Law and History Review