World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society has been recently revised, improved, and expanded to provide an invaluable online source of comprehensive information and unique insights into the military conflicts that have defined our world from its beginning to today.

From the Aztec-Spanish War in the 16th century to the United States's military involvement in the Middle East in the last three decades, armed conflict has played a key role throughout our history. Studying the origins and outcomes of wars provides valuable insight into how the nations of the world see themselves and each other, and gives future generations hope of avoiding future conflicts.

Wars create pivotal points in the human record, defining our leaders as well as changing the lives of ordinary families and citizens. Whether fighting for independence, forging alliances, making a play for dominance, or battling a global threat, history is shaped when nations go to war. Unfortunately, civilization has not yet moved beyond resorting to war in an attempt to settle conflict.

Through involving investigations of how the peace of World War I led to World War II, or insightful comparisons of U.S. past involvement in Southeast Asia with the Iraq War, World at War helps students and researchers develop a deeper, critical appreciation of both America's history and total human involvement and costs of war across the globe. The exclusive Idea Exchange sections offer students the opportunity to model their research writing upon thesis-driven, peer-reviewed scholarly essays about various topics, and present more than one informed perspective on each subject as well.

This freshly updated online database provides users with the most authoritative accounts of the past wars that have shaped our world, as well as up-to-date information regarding the conflicts that continue to take a toll on the world's population.

Features
• Provides complete overviews of 27 wars, with timelines, causes and consequences, portraits of opponents, and links to supporting facts, figures, primary sources, and audiovisual content
• The Idea Exchange tab supports student inquiry into historical dilemmas posed by Enduring Questions like "Did the Paris Peace Settlement that officially ended World War I make World War II inevitable?" and "Was the United States justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?"
• Includes 7,000 authoritative reference entries, including biographies and discussions of important places, events, movements, ideas, artifacts, and organizations
• More than 8,000 primary sources, including photos, maps, personal accounts, and video and audio clips for analyses or enhancing lectures

Highlights
• The only online resource focused on the causes and consequences of wars fought around the world, elucidating the global impact of these conflicts
• Developed by accomplished military historians, including Dr. Spencer Tucker (award-winning author of titles including The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars and The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict), with input from librarians and educators
• Expands and completes any library collection, meeting both reference and curriculum needs

Reviews
"The Idea Exchange feature takes readers to material on topical questions such as 'Why Did Mao Zedong's Communists Persevere over the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War?' and 'What Was the Primary Cause of World War I?' The answers, provided by well-known historians in signed, peer-reviewed essays, offer contrasting views of historical events and would be a good resource for pro/con papers. This database's low cost makes it a good source for beginning research on war-related topics. Summing Up: Recommended." - Choice