The Great Illusion

A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National Advantage

Norman Angell

Recommended By

Book Reviews

One of Peter Thiel's favorite books.

Book Synopsis

"The Great Illusion" by Norman Angell is a groundbreaking work that challenges the prevailing belief in the inevitability of war and questions the economic basis for military power.

Angell asserts that conflicts between modern nations have shifted from the pursuit of territorial gains to the protection of economic interests. He argues that war has become an uneconomic and irrational means to achieve these objectives and that nations are interconnected through trade and finance, making it futile and harmful to engage in armed conflicts.

By examining historical events and economic data, Angell highlights the interconnectedness of nations and emphasizes that aggression and conquest no longer yield economic benefits. He contends that military capabilities are increasingly becoming a financial burden, diverting resources from productive economic activities.

Angell further presents the idea that armed conflicts are detrimental to domestic prosperity, as they result in destruction and economic inefficiencies. He challenges the notion of military superiority as a reliable measure of power, asserting that economic strength and cultural influence are more significant determinants of a nation's standing in the international arena.

"The Great Illusion" provokes readers to rethink commonly-held beliefs about warfare and encourages peaceful alternatives for resolving disputes among nations. Angell's compelling arguments and evidence-based analysis make this book essential reading for those seeking a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between economics and war in the modern world.

Explore More Books

See All
Devil's Bargain
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It
The Story of Civilization: The Age of Faith
The New Atlantis
Charged
Dark Towers
Life in the English Country House
Tribal Leadership
Grass Productivity
Winners Take All
The New Economics
Deep Medicine
Play Anything
Planetary
The Persian Expedition
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Thinking In Systems
Order Without Design
Kill Decision
In Patagonia
The Man Who Fed The World
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
Thank God for Bitcoin
The Varieties of Religious Experience
Being Wrong
Bringing Down The House
Hyperion
Screw Business As Usual
The Mythical Man-Month
24/6
The Spiritual Brain
The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition
The Role of the Individual in History
The Complete Guide to Sales Force Incentive Compensation
Unelected Power
The (Mis)Behavior of Markets
Be the Person You Want to Find
Werner Herzog - A Guide for the Perplexed
Cryptonomicon
The Bet
Everything is Bullshit
Absolute Tao
Talent
The Fortunes of Africa
The Doors of Perception
Mao
A Time for New Dreams
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
The Story of Civilization: The Reformation
Reality Is Not What It Seems
The Coaching Habit
The Terminal List
A Good Man
V for Vendetta
The Undoing Project
Tools of Titans
Enlightenment Now
An American Marriage
At Home in the Universe
Breath
Foundations
The Three Marriages
Determined
The Billionaire Shell Game
The Power of Habit
A Soldier of the Great War
The Woman I Wanted to Be
The Female Brain
Winning The Loser's Game
American Crusade
The One Sentence Persuasion Course
Rational Decisions
Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes
The End of History and the Last Man
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government
Nudge
Play Bigger
Alice in Wonderland
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark
Slaughterhouse-Five
State of Fear
A Mind At Play
The Power of Relentless
Anthropic Bias
On Trails
Thank You For Smoking
The Road to Character
To Rule the Waves
Superintelligence
Secrets of Power Negotiating
The Value Investors
Karl Marx's Theory of History
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
Elon Musk
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Dip
Gulag Archipelago
Talking To Humans