Addressing the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of literature, Military History is a new title from Routledge's Critical Concepts in Military, Strategic, and Security Studies series. Edited by Jeremy Black ('the most prolific historical scholar of our age'), it is a four-volume collection which brings together the very best scholarship in a one-stop 'mini library' of major works.

Black avers that military history is increasingly seen as a global enterprise and Eurocentric/Western perspectives and paradigms often now appear questionable, if not redundant. Moreover, a teleology of warfare leading towards the total warfare of the twentieth century--the two world wars and the Cold War--appears far less convincing, he says, in light of developments since 1990. This kind of re-examination of long-held assumptions about military history has guided the selection of materials, which are organized chronologically, but with abundant cross-referencing to enable users to pursue thematic approaches. The focus is on major works published since 1990, first to centre on current research, questions, and perspectives and, secondly, because earlier literature can be followed through these pieces.

Military History is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential reference work and is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital research and pedagogic resource.