"Provides an important corrective to our understanding of ancient warfare and our thinking about the long history of total war and terror, manifested today by ISIS, casting a new light on Roman warfare and the strategic use of total war to achieve long-term military objectives and the pacification of conquered territories"-- Provided by publisher.

"As Is the Roman Custom" : war and mass violence in the Roman Republic, Third and Second Centuries BCE --"Adorned with Scars" : Roman military and political history to 146 BCE -- "What the Fire Could Not Consume" : methods of mass violence -- "The Ram Has Hammered at Their Walls" : the logic of mass violence -- "Deterred by Fear" : defection and deterrence in the Second Punic War -- "So Much Destruction and Utter Ruin" : politics and pragmatism in the Third Macedonian War -- "He Soaked Spanish Soil with Blood" : failure and frustration in the Lusitanian War.