Advance to Barbarism

Widely regarded as his most important and influential work, Advance to Barbarism was first published in 1948 (under the pen name “A. Jurist.”), with a revised edition followed in 1953. It was issued in several languages, including Spanish and German.

This eloquent work traces the evolution of warfare from primitive savagery to the rise of a “civilized” code of armed conflict that was first threatened in the US civil war, and again in the First World War, and was finally shattered during the Second World War.

The ensuing “War Crimes Trials” at Nuremberg and Tokyo, and their more numerous and barbaric imitations in Communist-controlled Eastern Europe, Veale argues, established the perilous principle that “the most serious war crime is to be on the losing side.”

Advance to Barbarism earned praise from some of the most astute thinkers of the age.

“This is a relentlessly truth speaking book. The truths it speaks are bitter, but of paramount importance if civilization is to survive.”—Max Eastman

“I have read the book with deep interest and enthusiasm. It is original in its approach to modern warfare, cogent and convincing… His indictment of modern warfare and post-war trials must stand.”—Norman Thomas

“The best general work on the Nuremberg Trials. It not only reveals the illegality, fundamental immorality and hypocrisy of these trials, but also shows how they are bound to make any future world wars (or any important wars) far more brutal and destructive to life and property. A very readable and impressive volume and a major contributor to any rational peace movement.”—Harry Elmer Barnes