American science fiction authors have been politically divided about war as any other segment of the population, as documented in SF magazine ads of the late 1960s (see here for a scan of one set of ads listing authors on each side of the Vietnam War).

War is always easier to dramatize than peace. In 1977 Vietnam veteran Joe Haldeman, author of the space war novel The Forever War, published an anthology optimistically titled Study War No More (paperback edition shown in the photo), blurbed as about "worlds at war and worlds beyond war" though Haldeman admits in his introduction he got few examples of the latter. Haldeman went on to co-edit three anthologies in the 1980s about various forms of warfare -- body armor, supertanks, space-fighters -- compiled here but not in the photo.

In 1979 and 1980 Reginald Bretnor compiled three anthologies, acknowledging the appeal and drama of war, set respectively near Earth, in the solar system, and in interstellar space. The reprinted stories are supplemented by original essays on themes of warfare, by Jerry Pournelle, Carl Sagan, Hal Clement, and others.

Jerry Pournelle then "created" (with associate editor John F. Carr) a multi-volme series as if in response to Haldeman (who never appeared in any of these volumes), honoring the armed services and heralding traditions of combat across the centuries. As in Bretnor's books, reprinted stories are supplemented by essays, by Roland J. Green, Stefan T. Possony, Pournelle himself, and others.

And then Harry Harrison and Bruce McAllister published a rejoinder to Pournelle -- "The idea that there will always be war is an abomination and an insult to human intelligence" Harrison says in his afterword. McAllister's introduction acknowledges the potential lack of drama in stories about peace and instead emphasizes the struggle for peace. The book includes six reprints but relies mostly on original stories (including a vignette by Isaac Asimov). There were no subsequent volumes.

The combined TOC below includes the original stories from some of the volumes. Most included authors: Rudyard Kipling (8), then Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, Joe Haldeman, Edward P. Hughes, and Jerry Pournelle (7 each).