In this work, Van Creveld discusses the future of armed conflict in the Post Cold War world. While not the best scholarship ever,(on some points he fails to elaborate thoroughly in supportin his assertions)he presents a grand thesis for the the "postulated breakdown" of conventional warfare that he anticipates to occur inthe future. His theories on the development of informal, unconvnetional warfare in the post Clausewitzian, 21st century seems to have been vindicated (a least in part) part informal insurgencies in places such as Somalia and Palestine. A must read for any military history buff who is willing to read a tex that challenges he theories of Clausewitz and Jomini.