A panoramic history of rules in the Western world Rules order almost every aspect of our lives. They set our work hours, dictate how we drive and set the table, tell us whether to offer an extended hand or cheek in greeting, and organize the rites of life, from birth through death. We may chafe under the rules we have, and yearn for ones we don’t, yet no culture could do without them. In Rules, historian Lorraine Daston traces their development in the Western tradition and shows how rules have evolved from ancient to modern times. Drawing on a rich trove of examples, including legal treatises, cookbooks, military manuals, traffic regulations, and game handbooks, Daston demonstrates that while the content of rules is dazzlingly diverse, the forms that they take are surprisingly few and long-lived. Daston uncovers three enduring kinds of rules: the algorithms that calculate and measure, the laws that govern, and the models that teach. She vividly illustrates how rules can change—how supple rules stiffen, or vice versa, and how once bothersome regulations become everyday norms. Rules have been devised for almost every imaginable activity and range from meticulous regulations to the laws of nature. Daston probes beneath this variety to investigate when rules work and when they don’t, and why some philosophical problems about rules are as ancient as philosophy itself while others are as modern as calculating machines. Rules offers a wide-angle view on the history of the constraints that guide us—whether we know it or not.

The Peace of Westphalia (1648), ending the Thirty Years' War, resulted in the rise of the modern European states system. However, dynasticism, power politics, commerce, and religion continued to be the main issues driving International politics and warfare. Dr. William Young examines war and diplomacy during the Age of Louis XIV and Peter the Great. His study focuses on the later part of the Franco-Spanish War, the Wars of Louis XIV, and the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the West. In addition, the author explores the wars of the Baltic Region and East Europe, including the Thirteen Years' War, Second Northern War, War of the Holy League, and the Great Northern War. The study includes a guide to the historical literature concerning war and diplomacy during this period. It includes bibliographical essays and a valuable annotated bibliography of over six hundred books, monographs, dissertations, theses, journal articles, and essays published in the English language. International Politics and Warfare in the Age of Louis XIV and Peter the Great is a valuable resource for individuals interested in the history of diplomacy, warfare, and Early Modern Europe.

This volume offers a comprehensive history of warfare since 1648, covering conventional and unconventional operations and demonstrating how most modern wars have been hybrid affairs that involved both. Military historian Thomas R. Mockaitis considers how epic struggles like the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the conflicts in the Middle East, among many others, shaped human history. The coverage serves to highlight four themes: the relationship between armed forces and the societies that create them, the impact of technology (not just armaments) on warfare, the role of ideas and attitudes toward violence in determining why and how wars are fought, and the relationship between conventional and unconventional operations. The book also covers the advent and evolution of unconventional warfare, including counterinsurgency, the War on Terror, and current conflicts in the Middle East. It concludes with consideration of the forms armed conflict will take in the future. The book includes valuable excerpts from the writings of military thinkers such as Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and supporting maps and diagrams.

The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process focuses on general rules or laws for the evolution of all agrarian frontiers, emphasizing those that are expanding. A variety of frontiers is also discussed in addition to the agrarian type to pinpoint similarities and differences. Organized into 11 chapters, this book first elucidates the processes of frontier colonization, and then describes the frontier model employed for the interpretation of documentary and material evidence for the examination of the development of South Carolina frontier. Some chapters then focus on the examination of South Carolina's colonial past in terms of the model to determine its degree of conformity with the latter and to set the stage for the archaeological study; the development of archaeological hypotheses; and a consideration of the material record. Other types of frontiers are characterized by separate developmental processes, and several of these are discussed in Chapter 10 as avenues for further research. This book will be valuable to scholars in several fields, including history, geography, and anthropology. Historical archaeologists will find it especially useful in designing research in former colonial areas and in modeling additional kinds of frontier change.