"Why war?" Albert Einstein once asked Sigmund Freud, a question that Freud was not alone in being unable to answer. War has bedeviled humankind at least since the beginning of recorded history. But whatever instincts, beliefs, or economic imperatives drove people to armed conflict in the past, they have been far outstripped by war's ever greater destructiveness - now, more than ever, in our post-nuclear era. Even though the fate of the world may be at stake, why does war continue to exist? And what, if anything, can be done to stop it? In this book Lawrence LeShan furnishes a masterful overview of how different cultures, historians, and thinkers have regarded war over the centuries, and acknowledges humankind's undeniable attraction to war. His analysis of the "psychology of war" illustrates how war fulfills crucial human needs. Despite its horrible costs, humans pursue war because it allows them to become part of a larger cause, while at the same time intensifying their sense of individuality. By better understanding this process, LeShan believes we can discover what we have to do to eradicate war.