Battling to the End

<DIV><P>Carl von Clausewitz (1780&ndash;1831), the Prussian military theoretician who wrote <I>On War</I>, is known above all for his famous dictum: &ldquo;War is the continuation of politics by other means.&rdquo; In Ren&eacute; Girard&rsquo;s view, however, the strategist&rsquo;s treatise offers up a more disturbing truth to the reader willing to extrapolate from its most daring observations: with modern warfare comes the insanity of tit-for-tat escalation, which political institutions have lost their ability to contain. Having witnessed the Napoleonic Wars firsthand, Girard argues, Clausewitz intuited that unbridled &ldquo;reciprocal action&rdquo; could eventually lead foes to total mutual annihilation. Haunted by the Franco-German conflict that was to ravage Europe, in Girard&rsquo;s account Clausewitz is a prescient witness to the terrifying acceleration of history. <I>Battling to the End</I> issues a warning about the apocalyptic threats hanging over our planet and delivers an authoritative lesson on the mimetic laws of violence.<BR /> &#160;</P></DIV>