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Book Review: Boots and Suits: Historical Cases and Contemporary Lessons in Military Diplomacy
January 17, 2024 — Historian and professor Kenneth Weisbrode reviews retired US ambassador Philip S. Kosnett’s anthology on “just how contested, and how significant,” military diplomacy is. After highlighting the value of General Kenneth F. McKenzie’s (US Marine Corps, retired) instructive foreword, which defines military diplomacy, Weisbrode outlines the book’s range of case studies across history (from the Confederacy to Afghanistan), author perspectives (“academics and government officials”), and subject matter (“strategy, operations, and tactics”). He distills some of the book’s essential policy lessons for readers and notes the book’s wide-ranging utility for “teachers, students, and aspiring (or even veteran) military diplomats.”... MORE

Book Review: Boots and Suits: Historical Cases and Contemporary Lessons in Military Diplomacy
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/33

Book Review: Military Dogs of World War II
December 20, 2023 — Author: Susan Bulanda | Reviewed by Reverend Dr. Wylie W. Johnson, chaplain (retired), US Army War College class of 2010 |In total war, the nation calls on everyone to direct all resources toward victory—during World War II, that call extended to man’s best friend. Retired military chaplain Dr. Wylie W. Johnson reviews certified animal behavior... MORE

Book Review: Military Dogs of World War II
Wylie W. Johnson
Author: Susan Bulanda
Reviewed by Reverend Dr. Wylie W. Johnson, chaplain (retired), US Army War College class of 2010

Book Review: Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare
December 20, 2023 — Author: Nathaniel L. Moir | Reviewed by John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College | Counterinsurgency expert John A. Nagl reviews the “long-overdue” biography of the American political scientist Bernard Fall who, as Nagl writes, was “always a couple years ahead of informed US public opinion” about the Vietnam War. Author... MORE

Book Review: Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare
Author: Nathaniel L. Moir
Reviewed by John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College

Book Review: War of Supply
November 22, 2023 — Author: David D. Dworak | Reviewed by Dr. John A. Bonin, consultant, US Army War College | The reviewer notes, “While there are thousands of books about World War II, there are relatively few on the war in the Mediterranean and fewer on its logistics.” Dworak provides just that, with a chronological account of Operation Torch in North Africa;... MORE

Book Review: War of Supply
John A. Bonin
Author: David D. Dworak
Reviewed by Dr. John A. Bonin, consultant, US Army War College
The reviewer notes, “While there are thousands of books about World War II, there are relatively few on the war in the Mediterranean and fewer on its logistics.” Dworak provides just that, with a chronological account of Operation Torch in North Africa; Operations Husky, Avalanche, and Shingle in Sicily and Italy; and Operation Dragoon in southern France.
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/30

Book Review: Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931–1945
November 22, 2023 — Author: Richard Overy | Reviewed by Jonathan Klug, colonel, US Army, and assistant professor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College | Many track the start of World War II to Poland in 1939. In Blood Ruins, Richard Overy contends the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria was the start of an Asian war that later... MORE

Book Review: Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931–1945
Jonathan Klug
Author: Richard Overy
Reviewed by Jonathan Klug, colonel, US Army, and assistant professor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College
Teaser: Many track the start of World War II to Poland in 1939. In Blood Ruins, Richard Overy contends the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria was the start of an Asian war that later merged into the 1939 war in Europe when Japan attacked America in 1939. The book addresses policy and strategy as well as operational, technical, and tactical issues.
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/29

Book Review: The Origins of Victory: How Disruptive Military Innovation Determines the Fates of Great Powers
October 17, 2023 — Author: Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr. | Reviewed by Zachery Tyson Brown, defense analyst, Office of the Secretary of Defense | Andrew F. Krepinevich has questions for policymakers when it comes to emerging technologies and warfare. In The Origins of Victory: How Disruptive Military Innovation Determines the Fates of Great Powers, Krepinevich asks: How... MORE

Book Review: The Origins of Victory: How Disruptive Military Innovation Determines the Fates of Great Powers
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/28
Author: Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr.
Reviewed by Zachery Tyson Brown, defense analyst, Office of the Secretary of Defense

Andrew F. Krepinevich has questions for policymakers when it comes to emerging technologies and warfare. In The Origins of Victory: How Disruptive Military Innovation Determines the Fates of Great Powers, Krepinevich asks: How do states gain advantages in military competition during periods of disruptive change? How are developmental technologies best incorporated into legacy military structures? Or are entirely new structures necessary?

Book Review: Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
October 17, 2023 — Author: Paul Scharre| Reviewed by Dr. Robert J. Bunker, director of research and analysis, managing partner, C/O Futures, LLC | Award-winning author Paul Scharre’s latest work, Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, envisions artificial intelligence as ushering in a “new industrial revolution” with big military, economic,... MORE

Book Review: Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/27

Author: Paul Scharre

Reviewed by Dr. Robert J. Bunker, director of research and analysis, managing partner, C/O Futures, LLC

TEASER: Award-winning author Paul Scharre’s latest work, Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, envisions artificial intelligence as ushering in a “new industrial revolution” with big military, economic, and political implications. The reviewer sees this “readable, tightly structured” book as “fascinating and important work from a US national security studies perspective” and “after-hours supplemental reading for US military and policy professionals who want to understand the political-military importance of AI and its strategic (in fact, civilizational) implications for the future.”

Book Review: The Air War in Vietnam
September 21, 2023 — 76th Birthday of Air Force | Author: Michael E. Weaver | Reviewed by Vince Alcazar, Air Force (retired) planner and fighter pilot, Department of Defense | The Air War in Vietnam addresses President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration’s use of airpower (or lack of it) and why American airpower underperformed, as well as airpower innovations that... MORE

Book Review by Vince Alcazar of
The Air War in Vietnam

Author: Michael E. Weaver
Reviewed by Vince Alcazar, Air Force (retired) planner and fighter pilot, Department of Defense

The Air War in Vietnam addresses President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration’s use of airpower (or lack of it) and why American airpower underperformed, as well as airpower innovations that influenced the US warfare model in the Vietnam War. The reviewer bills this work as “…an indispensable volume of airpower scholarship. It is a richly developed analysis of airpower in a decade-long war with challenging hybrid characteristics and shifting US strategies.”

Book Review: Spies and Shuttles: NASA’s Secret Relationship with the DoD and CIA
September 21, 2023 — 76th Birthday of Air Force | James E. David | Reviewed by Professor Carlos Barrera, Mexican Institute for Strategic Studies in National Security and Defence, and Manuel Carranza, defense and security affairs researcher | Starting with the 1957 launches of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 and 2, James E. David’s autobiography “offers a cautionary tale... MORE

Book Review by Carlos Barrera and Manuel Carranza of:
Spies and Shuttles: NASA’s Secret Relationship with the DoD and CIA

Author: James E. David

Reviewed by Professor Carlos Barrera, Mexican Institute for Strategic Studies in National Security and Defence, and Manuel Carranza, defense and security affairs researcher

Starting with the 1957 launches of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 and 2, James E. David’s autobiography “offers a cautionary tale on grandiloquent endeavors and highlights the need to prioritize planning over narrative” in space. David was a curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which gave him access to newly declassified materials. He put this information to good use in Spies and Shuttles as he chronicles NASA’s history and impact.

Book Review: Original Sin: Power, Technology and War in Outer Space
September 21, 2023 — 76th Birthday of Air Force | Bleddyn E. Bowen | Reviewed by Jeffrey Caton, colonel, US Air Force (retired), and president, Kepler Strategies LLC | Based on three key arguments, Original Sin covers the development of spacepower during the Cold War, space technology’s progress, and the weapons, planning and doctrine that surround space warfare... MORE

Book Review by Jeffrey Caton of:
Original Sin: Power, Technology and War in Outer Space
Author: Bleddyn E. Bowen

Reviewed by Jeffrey Caton, colonel, US Air Force (retired), and president, Kepler Strategies LLC

Based on three key arguments, Original Sin covers the development of spacepower during the Cold War, space technology’s progress, and the weapons, planning and doctrine that surround space warfare. The reviewer notes, “What sets Original Sin apart from similar books is the outstanding context it provides and its willingness to challenge trite slogans attached to spacepower.”