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The American Way of Studying War: What Is It Good For?
November 21, 2024 — Academic military historians, government institutions, and defense practitioners have unique purposes for advancing the study of war that influence the way they consume and produce history. Although there is substantial scholarship covering how the discipline of military history has changed since the late nineteenth century, the literature surrounding why it changes and how it is used is less plentiful. Using primary and secondary sources to contextualize debates between historians, this study traces major developments in military historiography, considers the US Army’s relationship with its history, and explores potential connections between a history’s purpose and its use for military professionals... MORE

From the Acting Editor in Chief
November 21, 2024 — Welcome to the Winter 2024–25 issue of Parameters. This issue consists of an In Focus special commentary, three forums (Indo-Pacific, Security Cooperation, and Historical Studies), and the regular Civil-Military Relations Corner installment... MORE

Book Review: A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force
October 8, 2024 — John C. Erickson and Timothy S. Martin review one of the US Army War College Press’s most-downloaded publications, A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force, an integrated research project that covers the first year of the Russia-Ukraine War. Erickson and Martin provide a useful overview and analysis, highlighting 10 key themes, with a special focus on the “Clausewitzian triad” and “mission command,” and explaining why members across the “national security enterprise” can benefit from reading the book... MORE

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Book Review: The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America’s Most Famous Hispanic War Hero
October 2, 2024 — As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Dr. Wylie W. Johnson presents a review of a recent publication on one of the most celebrated Hispanic war heroes in US history—Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez. Johnson overviews author William Sturkey’s biography of Benavidez, which discusses Benavidez’s “perseverance against racial prejudice, poverty, substandard education, bureaucratic inertia, popular bias against patriotism, anti-military sentiment, and physical disabilities” and also his heroism in the Vietnam War and his lifetime of service afterward. Johnson recommends the book as “military leaders need to be reminded about our heroes and honor the examples they set.”... MORE

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Review Essay: Exploring Strategy in India
September 25, 2024 — Dr. Vinay Kaura reviews two similarly named books that Kaura writes will be “an indispensable reference for South Asian security for years to come.” He praises Rajesh Basrur’s Subcontinental Drift for “incorporating domestic factors to explain Indian’s foreign policy” and provides a helpful overview of Basrur’s three case studies and “policy drift.” Kaura also overviews Feroz Hassan Khan’s book, centered on how India and Pakistan “are shaping the political order in South Asia” and appreciates Khan’s “remarkable objectivity.” Overall, Kaura offers a thoughtful and compelling account of the books, which he writes “significantly outrank others that often deal with great-power South Asian policies rather than with the two nuclear-armed neighbors locked in a hostile relationship and constantly drifting from crisis to crisis.”... MORE

Cover from the Review Essay: Exploring Strategy in India: Rajesh Basrur's Subcontinental Drift: Domestic Politics and India’s Foreign Policy and Feroz Hassan Khan's Subcontinent Adrift: Strategic Futures of South Asia

Book Review: The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century
September 25, 2024 — Dr. Thomas Spahr presents a compelling review of General Kenneth McKenzie’s The Melting Point, providing an overview of the book’s three main points and its unique scope compared to other generals’ memoirs. Spahr praises McKenzie’s writing on Afghanistan, in particular, calling it “the best [description] I have read of the strategic events that led to that dramatic end.” Spahr presents a compelling case for why the book “should be required reading at senior levels of professional military education.”... MORE

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Book Review: The Making of a Leader: The Formative Years of George C. Marshall
September 25, 2024 — Dr. Wylie Johnson provides a thoughtful review of Rhodes Scholar Josiah Bunting’s new book on the early life and career of General George Marshall. As Johnson notes, there are many books about Marshall, and Johnson highlights the value of Bunting’s book, which contextualizes Marshall’s early career—from experience as a staff officer (rather than leading troops in combat), to having authority in overseas assignments, to recreation. Johnson notes that “Marshall had a different military career than that which is usually lauded today.” He writes that the book is “a well-written introduction to the art of leadership that senior leaders can recommend to rising junior officers.”... MORE

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Book Review: Unwinnable Wars: Afghanistan and the Future of American Armed Statebuilding
September 25, 2024 — Dr. Erik Goepner reviews analyst Adam Wunische’s Unwinnable Wars, which, according to Gopener, offers a “timeless reminder—American power has limits.” Goepner provides a helpful outline of Wunische’s four “major preexisting conditions that severely limit the success of armed state-building efforts.” Wunische argues that preexisting conditions are “beyond the control of the intervening power” and “often foreordain the failure of such missions” (such as Afghanistan, the book’s main case study)... MORE

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Book Review: The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age
September 25, 2024 — John Erickson and John Nagl provide a useful overview of the latest (third) edition of Princeton University Press’s anthologies on modern strategy, directing readers to the most salient chapters of the book and giving insight into why “this third edition is the most interesting yet” and “are of immeasurable importance for students, practitioners, and scholars alike.” Erickson and Nagl write that “[the] essays provide excellent starting points for research on almost any topic relevant to practitioners, and many of them will endure as the best summaries of thinking on their respective subjects until the next edition is published.”... MORE

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Book Review: War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World
September 25, 2024 — John Erickson and John Nagl review Hal Brands’s 2024 anthology on the Russia-Ukraine War, including a thorough and helpful overview of the parts and chapters. They supplement the review with a contextualization of the war and its significance for the rest of the world. They call Brands’s book, “a scholarly appraisal of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that may mark the first blows of World War III.”... MORE

cover of War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World