Jacob Hagstrom, "Asymmetric Warfare: Politics and Cultures of Violence in the Modern Era" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

Asymmetric Warfare: Politics and Cultures of Violence in the Modern Era (Cambridge University Press, 2025).

The forces that fight asymmetric wars are so distinct that one side

avoids direct military confrontation in favor of political, social, or

otherwise unorthodox means of resistance. These conflicts have been a

mainstay of modern times, though scholars have often separated them into

various designations by era. Observers have referred, in chronological

order, to Indian warfare, petite guerre (small war), guerrilla warfare,

irregular or revolutionary war, and terrorism. The proliferation of

labels over time has obscured the continuity of asymmetric wars

throughout modernity. Stark distinctions in resources and capabilities

have shaped the reasons why states and societies have decided to fight,

and the manner in which they have fought. Across the modern era,