Preface: Requiem for the universal soldier

Written in blood : the classical Greek drama of battle and the western way of war

Subtleties of violence : ancienct Chinese and Indian texts on warfare

Chivalry and chevauchée : the ideal, the real, and the perfect in medieval European warfare

Linear warfare : images and ideals of combat in the age of enlightenment

Victories of the conquered : the native character of the Sepoy

The sun of Austerlitz : romantic visions of decisive battle in nineteenth-century Europe

The merciless fight : race and military culture in the Pacific War

Crossing the Canal : Egyptian effectiveness and military culture in the October War

Epilogue: Terrorism and "evil" : forming a new discourse on war at the dawn of the twenty-first century

Appendix: The discourse and the reality of war : a cultural model.