Nostalgic Virility as a Cause of War argues that world leaders react to status decline by going to war, guided by a nostalgic, virile understanding of what it means to be powerful. Consulting newly declassified documents at the highest levels of decision-making, Grandpierron uses the framework of nostalgic virility to provide surprising ways of thinking about current conflicts, from the Russian war in Ukraine to Chinese actions in the South China Sea.