My books

Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare. Basic Books, 2021.

“Do new weapons create novel tactics and strategy or simply enhance unchanging doctrines? Paul Lockhart’s exhaustive study of the origins, role, and evolution of gunpowder weapons answers that neither war nor the world itself has ever been the same after the introduction of guns. His tour of the spread of gunpowder weaponry from the fifteenth century to the present is itself a tour de force of facts, analysis, and engaging prose. A riveting history of how five hundred years of gunpowder have changed the way hundreds of millions have lived – and died.” Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Second World Wars

“Firepower is a fascinating, rip-roaring ride through the development of modern weapons technology and its impact upon war. Paul Lockhart carefully dispels decades of myths and shows why we need to understand how firearms and war machines, from muskets and machine-guns to battleships and bombs, actually worked.” Nick Lloyd, King’s College London, author of The Western Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918

“Firepower makes the essential connection between technology and power, from the pike and the arquebus to the dreadnought, tanks, modern artillery, and airpower. The book’s great strength is the author’s ability to explain even the most complex technologies in simple, graspable terms – before tying them to the evolution of warfare and the global struggle for mastery.” Geoffrey Wawro, author of Sons of Freedom

The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington. Harper, 2011.

“Lockhart’s shrewd, well-judged interpretation corrects myths about the battle and the men who fought it, while doing full justice to their achievement in creating an army — and a nation — out of chaos.” Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“Paul Lockhart is our best military writer on the Revolutionary War.” Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington

The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army. HarperCollins, 2008.

“What a terrific biography this is — splendidly written with narrative sweep…. The dramatic story of how the American army that beat the British was forged has never been better told than in this remarkable book.” Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals

Denmark, 1513 – 1660: The Rise and Decline of a Renaissance Monarchy. Oxford University Press (UK), 2007.

“Lockhart’s book is based on a superb knowledge of Danish research. His work is empirical and analytical at a very high level…. Lockhart has written by far the best introduction in any language to the history of early modern Denmark.”–Steffen Heiberg, The International History Review

Frederik II and the Protestant Cause: Denmark’s Role in the Wars of Religion, 1559 – 1596. Brill, 2004.

“…closely argued, well researched, and ultimately absorbing…Lockhart does a fine job of leading the reader through the twists and turns of these complex events….It is a fine achievement and a fascinating story.”
Andrew Pettegree, The Sixteenth Century Journal