Why War? Ideology, Theory, and History by Keith Nelson and Spencer Olin

Why War? Ideology, Theory, and History by Keith Nelson and Spencer Olin was published in the late 1970s which perhaps makes it surprising that it is so useful. The book discusses conservative Liberal and Communist theories of why wars erupt between countries. After analyzing the world views of various theorists the book delves into how they analyze the outbreaks of World War I and World War II. I've been through several international relations political theory courses but found the authors definitions of the various topics more illuminating than all of that time sitting in class.

Interestingly enough to work at that the authors for the most part site are written by the same people who were in the syllabi for the courses I took nearly 25 years later. Only some of the titles have changed.