Friedrich Kittler (1943–2011) was a Professor of Media Aesthetics and History at Humboldt University in Berlin and the author of numerous books, including Discourse Networks 1800/1900 and Gramophone, Film, Typewriter.

Ilinca Iurascu is Associate Professor of German at the University of British Columbia.

Geoffrey Winthrop-Young is Professor of German at the University of British Columbia.

Michael Wutz is Rodney H. Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of English at Weber State University.

Editor's Preface / Ilinca Iurascu, Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, and Michael Wutz vii
Introduction: The Wars of Friedrich Kittler / Geoffrey Winthrop-Young 1
Part I: Guns, Germans, and Steel: The Hardware(s) of War
1. Free Ways (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 53
2. A Short History of the Searchlight (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 62
3. Fragments of a History of Firearms (Translated by Michael Wutz) 69
4. Tanks (Translated by Michael Wutz) 73
Part II. Wires, Waves, and Wagner
5. Noises of War (Translated by Michael Wutz) 79
6. Playback: A World War History of Radio Drama (Translated by Michael Wutz) 91
7. Operation Valhalla (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 110
8. When the Blitzkrieg Raged (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 117
Part III. Vanishing Animals and Returning Nomads
9. Animals of War: A Historical Bestiary (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 123
10. On Modern Warfare: A Conversation with Alexander Kluge (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 127
11. Of States and Their Terrorists (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 136
Part IV. Love and War
12. Manners of Death in War (Translated by Michael Wutz) 151
13. Ottilie Hauptmann (Translated by Ilinca Iurascu) 166
Part V. Pynchon's War
14. On a Novel That Would Not Only Be Fiction . . . (Translated by Michael Wutz) 193
15. De Nostalgia (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 198
16. Media and Drugs in Pynchon's Second World War (Translated by Michael Wutz) 211
Part VI. Kittler on Kittler
17. Biogeography (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 227
18. Theology (Translated by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) 233
Notes 235
Bibliography 273
Index 287
Credits 295