Books

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960. First edition of this work that pioneered the study of bargaining and strategic behavior. Octavo, original yellow cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "For Roger Jan 75 Tom Schelling." Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some wear and tear to the extremities. Against the backdrop of the nuclear arms race in the late 1950s, Thomas Schelling's book The Strategy of Conflict set forth his vision of game theory as a unifying framework for the social sciences. Schelling showed that a party can strengthen its position by overtly worsening its own options, that the capability to retaliate can be more useful than the ability to resist an attack, and that uncertain retaliation is more credible and more efficient than certain retaliation. These insights have proven to be of great relevance for conflict resolution and efforts to avoid war. Schelling's work prompted new developments in game theory and…