Civilization might have been spared much of the damage suffered in the world wars this century if the influence of Clausewitz's <i>On War</i>  had been blended with and balanced by a knowledge of Sun-tzu's <i>The Art of Warfare</i>.  --B.H. Liddel Hart<br><br>For two thousand years, Sun-tzu's The Art of Warfare was the indispensable volume of warcraft. Although his work is the first known analysis of war and warfare, Sun-tzu struck upon a thoroughly modern concept: "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."        Karl von Clausewitz, the canny military theorist who famously declared that war is a continuation of politics by other means, also claims paternity of the notion "total war."   His is the magnum opus of the era of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic vars.<br><br>Now these two great military minds are made to share the same tent, metaphorically speaking, in <b>The Book of War</b>. What a bivouac it is, and what a conversation into the night.<br><br>Military writer Ralph Peters has written a new Introduction for this Modern Library edition.