Whether explaining the failure of the Spanish Armada to use its guns effectively (physical difficulties reloading), describing the sultan of Aceh's siege of Malacca in 1629, or analysing conscription records from a Swedish parish, Parker has a fine grasp for detail; he also has the ability to move between that detail and broad generalisations without losing his footing. In this regard he reminds me not a little of Braudel: indeed The Military Revolution is complementary in many ways to Civilization and Capitalism, which described the early modern social and economic changes that set Western Europe apart from the rest of the world, but which largely ignored matters military. With seventy pages of notes, The Military Revolution is without question a scholarly work; with an impressive citation record after less than a decade, it is also a significant one. But the broad nature of the subject and the use of endnotes makes it accessible to anyone; those interested in military history will simply gobble it down.