Concerned with the mass mobilization of society for war, this study starts with the French levée en masse of 1793. It replaced former theories and regulations concerning the obligation of military service with a universal concept more encompassing in its moral claims than any that had prevailed under the Old Regime. These papers analyze and compare episodes (in which the distinctive ideological configuration that the original levée typified plays a leading role).

The People in Arms, first published in 2002, is concerned with the mass mobilization of society for war. It takes as its starting point the French levee en masse of 1793, which replaced former theories and regulations concerning the obligation of military service with a universal concept more encompassing in its moral claims than any that had prevailed under the Ancien Regime. The levee en masse has accordingly gone down in history as a spontaneous, free expression of the French people's ideals and enthusiasm. It also became a crucial source for one of the most powerful organizing myths of modern politics: that compulsory, mass social mobilizations merely express, and give effective form to, the wishes or higher values of society and its members. The aim of the papers presented here is to analyse and compare episodes in which this distinctive ideological configuration has played a leading role.

Chinese politics changed fundamentally in 1925, when the radical nationalism of the May Thirtieth Movement took political center stage. This book explains the connection between the Nationalist revolution and the introduction of China to modern World War I style warfare during the massive civil war of 1924. Like the author's well-received first book, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth (CUP, 1990), this volume moves persuasively from specifics of strategy and politics to the large and abiding issues of Chinese history and culture.

The notion of an ancient and continuously existing Great Wall is proven a myth in this fascinating account of the strategic and political context behind the Chinese decision to build walls as fortified defences during the Ming Dynasty.