From Sun Tzu to Xbox is a definitive history of the longstanding relationship between games and military culture, from wargaming’s roots in ancient civilizations, to the Cold War development of computing for battle, to a recent crop of Pentagon-funded shoot-’em-ups, big-budget commercial titles and homemade hacks.

Filled with high-tech weapons, gung-ho desert soldiers, and terrorist scenarios ripped from the headlines, today’s ultra-realistic video games have moved to the forefront of the militarization of popular culture. How did this once innocent pastime—now rivaling Hollywood in popularity—become so deeply enmeshed in America’s entry into global warfare?

Examining US military projects like America’s Army and Full Spectrum Warrior, commercial games from Battlezone to Conflict: Desert Storm, as well as mods, artworks, and homebrewed games created as critiques and responses, From Sun Tzu to Xbox offers the first political history of the video game and a powerful argument of its role in the way Americans have come to think about war.