Some have claimed that "War is too important to be left to the generals," but P. W. Singer asks "What about the business executives?" Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to st...more

While many scholars agree that Clausewitz's On War is frequently misunderstood, almost none have explored his methodology to see whether it might enhance our understanding of his concepts. This book lays out Clausewitz's methodology in a brisk and straightforward style. It then uses that as a basis for understanding his contributions to the ever gr...more

"The Air Force staff quickly came up with an air campaign, the brainchild of Colonel John Warden, a brilliant, brash fighter pilot and a leading Air Force intellectual on the use of airpower... Warden's original plan would undergo numerous modifications...but his original concept remained the heart of the Desert Storm air war."Colin PowellColin Pow...more

Inspired by his experiences as a French military officer and attache in China, Greece, Southeast Asia, and Algeria, the author realized the "need for a compass" in the suppression of insurgency, and he set out to "define the laws of counterinsurgency warfare, to deduce from them its principles, and to outline the corresponding strategy and tactics....more

"More dramtatic than fiction...THE GUNS OF AUGUST is a magnificent narrative--beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained....The product of painstaking and sophisticated research."CHICAGO TRIBUNEHistorian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to life again the people and events that led up to Wor...more

Why should the United States cling to military alliances established during the Cold War when the circumstances are now fundamentally different? In The End of Alliances, Rajan Menon argues that our alliances in Europe and Asia have become irrelevant to the challenges we face today. The United States must be actively involved beyond its borders, but...more

Bestselling author Nicholson Baker, recognized as one of the most dexterous and talented writers in America today, has created a compelling work of nonfiction bound to provoke discussion and controversy -- a wide-ranging, astonishingly fresh perspective on the political and social landscape that gave rise to World War II.Human Smoke delivers a clos...more

One of the world’s leading historians re- examines World War II and its outcome A clear-eyed reappraisal of World War II that offers new insight by reevaluating well-established facts and pointing out lesser-known ones, No Simple Victory asks readers to reconsider what they know about the war, and how that knowledge might be biased or incorrect. ...more

A history of war and warfare from ancient times to the early modern era, Larry Addington's new book completes his survey of the patterns of war in the Western world. Addington discusses developments in weapons and tactics, methods of logistics, and characteristics of generalship. He shows how the changing patterns of war during this long span of hi...more