War in the Genes, also carries a sense of his ethnicity because, as he says, "It's one thing that's true about me." But as the title suggests, it's focused on the universal theme of war. Salisbury, professor emeritus at University of Oregon, fought in World War II; his brother was a prisoner of war during the Ground Forces invasion in North Africa in the 1940s; his younger brother fought in Vietnam. With these and other experiences in mind, Salisbury explores war from the time of Spanish conquerors to the current Iraq war