"It is axiomatic to say that war has driven and shaped human history. Yet a corollary to this truth is far less well understood: weapons have driven and shaped war. Major conflicts have turned on the success or failure of the weapons involved, and entire strategies have been created around the existence of key weapons. Putting the corollary together with the axiom, weapons reflect better than almost anything else the changes, fears, and desires of man and society." "In Soul of the Sword, a noted military historian and senior intelligence analyst at the National Ground Intelligence Center, Robert O'Connell, offers a history of weapons from the primitive mace to the nuclear warhead. Throughout he focuses on their impact on the course of warfare and on society. O'Connell's narrative is accompanied by illustrations by John Batchelor, the world's premier military illustrator, covering everything from the first Western gun to the Mosquito bomber."--Jacket.