News

Book Review: We Had to Get Out of That Place: A Memoir of Redemption and Betrayal in Vietnam
December 12, 2024 — Dr. Wylie W. Johnson reviews Vietnam War veteran Steven Grzesik’s memoir that, as Johnson explains, shows the effects of “the Army’s institutional policies” and how “[u]nit cohesiveness begins with senior leadership.” Grzesik’s personal experiences and the “isolation, abuse, and sacrifice of individual replacements” (which Johnson identifies as important themes in the book) provide a valuable perspective on “the imperative of caring for soldiers.” ... MORE

Book cover: We Had to Get Out of That Place: A Memoir of Redemption and Betrayal in Vietnam

Book Review: Witness to Neptune’s Inferno: The Pacific War Diary of Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Mustin, USS Atlanta (CL 51)
December 12, 2024 — Colonel Jonathan Klug (PhD), the US Army War College’s Admiral William F. Halsey Chair of Naval Studies, identifies David F. Winkler’s contribution to the field with this book. Klug writes, “Winkler adds tremendous value to [Lloyd M.] Mustin’s comments by placing them into their proper historical context and providing insight into the development of a mid-career naval officer into a strategic leader.” Klug also notes that “this book would be especially useful to support the exploration of the opening phases of a transpacific war, a topic that joint professional military education should emphasize.”... MORE

Book cover: Witness to Neptune’s Inferno: The Pacific War Diary of Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Mustin, USS Atlanta (CL 51)

Book Review: Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South
December 12, 2024 — Lieutenant Colonel James “Andy” Nichols reviews Elizabeth R. Varon’s biography of James Longstreet, which Nichols calls “an engaging, well-researched account of [the general’s] journey through disunion, reconstruction, and reconciliation.” He writes that Varon “lifts Longstreet out of the Lost Cause mythology and, through careful archival work, enables readers understand a man who experienced personal and professional transformation and sought redemption.”... MORE

Book cover: Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South

Book Review: How the Army Made Britain a Global Power: 1688–1815
December 12, 2024 — Senior research historian Dr. James D. Scudieri provides a detailed outline of Jeremy Black’s history of the British Army from 1688 to 1815, highlighting the author’s “theme that the British Army made the empire as much as the Royal Navy—through projecting Landpower.” Scudieri also notes the book’s value to American readers, writing, “American security professionals will see parallel insights from this small regular army within a parliamentary system” and that the “US Army’s evolution in a republic that centers the military establishment in Congress, including wartime expansion and peacetime reductions, developed from this British basis.”... MORE

Book cover: How the Army Made Britain a Global Power: 1688–1815

Book Review: Deterrence in the 21st Century: Statecraft in the Information Age
December 12, 2024 — Analyst Timothy L. Thomas provides a useful overview of “well-documented and thought-provoking compilation of Canadian perspectives on the interaction of modern-day deterrence postures affected by disinformation threats.” Thomas notes that “the book offers many new concepts for senior defense community experts to consider regarding deterrence and disinformation concepts and an expansive bibliography.” He also highlights the book’s treatment of China, Russia, and Hamas and writes that “[t]he numerous deterrence types . . . indicate that classical deterrence alone is inadequate to dissuade an opponent’s attacks in today’s situational and technical context.”... MORE

Cover for Deterrence in the 21st Century: Statecraft in the Information Age

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

Cover of A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force

Book Review: The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America’s Most Famous Hispanic War Hero
October 2, 2024 — 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

Cover for The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America’s Most Famous Hispanic War Hero

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

cover of The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century

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

cover of The Making of a Leader: The Formative Years of George C. Marshall