Book excerpt: Now in its third edition, Ways of War is a comprehensive guide to United States military history and its wider relationship to American society, from the seventeenth century to the present day. This volume remains an accessible and compelling textbook for students and instructors, combining traditional "drum and bugle" history with "war and society" approaches to highlight the military's influence on American culture, economics, and politics. The new edition contains over 60 maps, both new and revised, to further illustrate military battles, campaigns, and conflicts. Each chapter also includes a wealth of images alongside chapter timelines identifying key events, text boxes providing biographical information and first-person accounts, and short bibliographies. The final two chapters are fully updated with vital material on the end of the Global War on Terror, current challenges the U.S. faces in Europe and Asia, as well as discussion of new military technologies that are changing contemporary warfare. Written by experienced instructors and designed to maximize student engagement, the third edition of Ways of War remains an essential text for American military history and war and society courses. Instructor and student resources for this book include a test bank of multiple choice, discussion, and essay questions; interactive timelines; annotated and expanded bibliographies for each chapter; and chapter glossaries and flashcards.