War Gaming
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Before the first shot is ever fired, wars are won and lost on the drawing board — and War Gaming pulls back the curtain on the sophisticated, often chilling science of simulated conflict. Andrew Wilson chronicles the history and evolution of war gaming, from its origins as a Prussian military exercise in the 19th century to its Cold War incarnation as a high-stakes tool used by governments and military strategists to model nuclear confrontations, guerrilla warfare, and geopolitical crises. Written with journalistic clarity and analytical rigour, the book presents a compelling argument that the games nations play in peacetime are far from mere abstraction — they are rehearsals for catastrophe. Wilson's prose is sharp and authoritative, grounding complex strategic theory in vivid historical examples and accessible language that speaks to both the general reader and the military enthusiast. He illustrates how war gaming became central to NATO planning, Cold War deterrence doctrine, and the broader machinery of 20th-century power politics, raising urgent questions about rationality, human error, and the terrifying gap between simulation and reality. At its core, this is a book that forces the reader to ask: if our leaders are playing games with global survival, how confident can we be that they know the difference between the board and the battlefield?
Author: Andrew Wilson
Format: Paperback
Genre: Military history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Before the first shot is ever fired, wars are won and lost on the drawing board — and War Gaming pulls back the curtain on the sophisticated, often chilling science of simulated conflict. Andrew Wilson chronicles the history and evolution of war gaming, from its origins as a Prussian military exercise in the 19th century to its Cold War incarnation as a high-stakes tool used by governments and military strategists to model nuclear confrontations, guerrilla warfare, and geopolitical crises. Written with journalistic clarity and analytical rigour, the book presents a compelling argument that the games nations play in peacetime are far from mere abstraction — they are rehearsals for catastrophe. Wilson's prose is sharp and authoritative, grounding complex strategic theory in vivid historical examples and accessible language that speaks to both the general reader and the military enthusiast. He illustrates how war gaming became central to NATO planning, Cold War deterrence doctrine, and the broader machinery of 20th-century power politics, raising urgent questions about rationality, human error, and the terrifying gap between simulation and reality. At its core, this is a book that forces the reader to ask: if our leaders are playing games with global survival, how confident can we be that they know the difference between the board and the battlefield?