Military Science Books

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War

Andrew J. Bacevich

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this provocative book, Andrew Bacevich warns of a dangerous dual obsession that has taken hold of Americans, conservatives, and liberals alike. It is a marriage of militarism and utopian ideology--of unprecedented military might wed to a blind faith in the universality of American values. This mindset, the author warns, invites endless war and the ever-deepening militarization of U.S. policy. It promises not to perfect but to pervert American ideals and to accelerate the hollowing out of American democracy. As it alienates others, it will leave the United States increasingly isolated. It will end in bankruptcy, moral as well as economic, and in abject failure.
With The New American Militarism, which has been updated with a new Afterword, Bacevich examines the origins and implications of this misguided enterprise. He shows how American militarism emerged as a reaction to the Vietnam War. Various groups in American society--soldiers, politicians on the make, intellectuals, strategists, Christian evangelicals, even purveyors of pop culture--came to see the revival of military power and the celebration of military values as the antidote to all the ills besetting the country as a consequence of Vietnam and the 1960s. The upshot, acutely evident in the aftermath of 9/11, has been a revival of vast ambitions and certainty, this time married to a pronounced affinity for the sword. Bacevich urges us to restore a sense of realism and a sense of proportion to U.S. policy. He proposes, in short, to bring American purposes and American methods--especially with regard to the role of the military--back into harmony with the nation's founding ideals.

The Art Of War

Sun Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Sterling Classic 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1A5ADU0XK2GHR This is a magnificent book that tells as much about psychology as it does military strategy.

The Art of War - Timeless Classic 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Art of War and other Laws of Power from MobileReference
User friendly Table of Contents. EZ access and navigation. This is a very good digital item!

Ancient Timeless Knowledge 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

While this book is barely 70 pages long, the classic strategies in it are concise and valuble, quite timeless. The book was written 2500 years ago as a basic primer on strategy - and has withstood the test of time. It won't take long to digest the book - but that gives you more time to implement its strategies. There are sections on strategies, planning maneuvers, deception, etc., Together with Robert Green's book on Strategy it is a fine combination.


Michael Mandaville, Author of the upcoming "Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways For Every American To Fight Terrorism"

Editorial Review:

Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on Sun Tzu to warfare and cilivzation have adapted these teachings for use in politics, business and everyday life. The Art of War is a book which should be used to gain advantage of opponents in the boardroom and battlefield alike.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah

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Total reviews: 393 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.

This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

Dave Grossman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 160 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great read 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a very incite-full read and should be read before on combat. Very deep subject content and makes very good points about how our society is changing and not in a good way.

On killing review 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It is interesting book for those who have illusions concerning any war. The book confirmed the basic thought that the fright to kill a person is more important than the fright to be killed. The nature programmed us to avoid killing a human being! Every war does not cost every life! Certainly, there is CONSCIENCE! The conscience torment to kill innocent children and women, fathers of mothers of somebody!

On Kiling 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A bit of slow read but does get interesting every few pages. It is very easy to take the factors in this book and apply them to the business world - why do people get stressed out and burned out at work.

Good but the second book is much better 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a very good book but pales in comparison to Col. Grossman's second book on combat. This book has a lot of data a is a little dry reading. However, the data is excellent and this book contains great information.

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Classic on the priciples of war 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This ancient classic of 13 chapters was written over 2,500 years ago by the legendary Chinese general Sun Tzu. It is a must have for military buffs that enjoy reading about the tactics of the most succesful generals. It is rumored that Napoleon used a French translation of the Art of War to his advantage while conquering most of Europe, and he lost when he broke its principles.
The principles that are with in this ancient text can also be used in games of strategy, business conflicts, and the day to day battles of life.
Here are ten principles to give you a sample of the wisdom found in its pages:

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance with out fighting.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Spies are the most important element in war, because upon them depends an army's ability to move.

All warfare is based on deception.

The general who wins a battle makes many calculations before the battle is fought.

There is no instance of a country having benefited from a prolonged war.

The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.

In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. (So they can retreat).

Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained, fight not unless the position is critical.

Taken as a whole this is a book of wisdom and principles on how to win. I rank it in my top ten books I have ever read. It is a must have for any home library. The is a very small book that is quick and easy to read.

Editorial Review:

Conflict is an inevitable part of life, according to this ancient Chinese classic of strategy, but everything necessary to deal with conflict wisely, honorably, victoriously, is already present within us. Compiled more than two thousand years ago by a mysterious warrior-philosopher, The Art of War is still perhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy in the world, as eagerly studied in Asia by modern politicians and executives as it has been by military leaders since ancient times. As a study of the anatomy of organizations in conflict, The Art of War applies to competition and conflict in general, on every level from the interpersonal to the international. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through understanding the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict.

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated]

Jeremy Scahill

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 230 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Badly Written, Badly Reported 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

So what is reporter Jeremy Schahill's problem with the mercenary company Blackwater? Well, it's run by Christian conservatives who are rigorous supporters of the Bush presidency, and it enables the American government to pursue an imperialist agenda, without the support of either the American people or military. And sometimes Blackwater mercenaries kill innocent civilians, and with their lax safety standards Blackwater permits their own soldiers to be killed.

Jeremy Schahill reports for the Nation magazine and Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" so he's used to preaching to the choir. Mercenaries? Christian right? George Bush? Imperialism? Well, that's an open and shut case: Blackwater is evil, and must be stopped now.

Now Blackwater is a very interesting topic and a lot of readers who are not knee-jerk liberals -- such as myself -- will want to read up on it, and so Jeremy Schahill needs to articulate his case against Blackwater better -- and unfortunately he doesn't even try.

Blackwater, after all, is merely a company that is meeting market demand. George W. Bush decided to invade and occupy Iraq, and he needed a reliable mercenary company to protect American diplomats -- and Blackwater has maintained a perfect record in the protection of "high value targets." Violence is a brutal, subjective business, and now and then Blackwater mercenaries will over-use force in order to protect American officials and diplomats -- resulting in the wanton killing of civilians. But, again, they're just doing their job, and they're doing it very well.

Another of Jeremy Schahill's concern is the Bush cabal's -- as best represented by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney -- push to privatize the military. Donald Rumsfeld has consistently argued that privatizing the military would make it more efficient and cost-effective, and permit America to fight the asymmetrical wars of the 21st century. Again here Jeremy Schahill takes it on faith that this is a very bad idea -- but Mr. Rumsfeld could well be right -- there just isn't enough history and evidence to ascertain who is right and wrong.

Now and then Mr. Schahill tries to explain why Blackwater is bad for the American republic. Remember Rome, and its use of mercenaries? Well, eventually these mercenary armies turned against Rome -- but this a point that Mr. Schahill doesn't really articulate.

But besides the trite and over-used example of Rome Mr. Schahill could have also used the example of Britain and the East India Company. In the beginning of the 19th century East India Company officials or "nabobs" were getting filthy rich in India, returning to Great Britain, spending their wealth lavishly to cultivate political connections, and became a strong lobby for Britain's imperialistic drive which ultimately corrupted its republican virtues. America's nascent mercenary lobby is extremely close to the Bush presidency, and there's very good reason to believe that Erik Prince, Blackwater's king, will enter the political arena one day.

If Mr. Schahill were to delve deeper and conduct true investigative journalism he may well discover that his case against Blackwater is a lot stronger than mere speculating and complaining. Mr. Schahill tells us that Blackwater mercenaries are responsible for protecting the top American officials in Iraq and have immunity from prosecution -- and so what's going to happen when you give professional killers a lot of power and nothing to restrain them?

When I was in Afghanistan working for the United Nations I would hear now and then of international soldiers involved in the drug trade and in smuggling cultural relics out of the country. It made perfect sense for these soldiers to engage in these activities because they had the means -- the planes, the weapons, and the time -- and there was little risk of them actually getting caught. By now we know that Blackwater mercenaries stand accused of selling guns and weapons to insurgent groups in Iraq -- and why not? We are talking about extreme risk-takers put in a situation where they can make a lot of money with little risk, and so why wouldn't Blackwater mercenaries sell guns to their enemies? And why wouldn't they sell drugs and smuggle relics?

"Blackwater" runs to almost 500 pages, and if the author spent as much time actually investigating what Blackwater is doing in Iraq as he did in writing the book he would have done his country a great service.

Editorial Review:

On September 16, 2007, machine gun fire erupted in Baghdad's Nisour Square leaving seventeen Iraqi civilians dead, among them women and children. The shooting spree, labeled "Baghdad's Bloody Sunday," was neither the work of Iraqi insurgents nor U.S. soldiers. The shooters were private forces working for the secretive mercenary company, Blackwater Worldwide.

This is the explosive story of a company that rose a decade ago from Moyock, North Carolina, to become one of the most powerful players in the "War on Terror." In his gripping bestseller, awardwinning journalist Jeremy Scahill takes us from the bloodied streets of Iraq to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to the chambers of power in Washington, to expose Blackwater as the frightening new face of the U.S. war machine.

* Winner of the George Polk Book Award
* Alternet Best Book of the Year
* Barnes & Noble one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007
* Amazon one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007

The 33 Strategies of War (Joost Elffers Books)

Robert Greene

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fight, fight to survive! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

When I mean powerful, I mean POWERFUL. I couldn't have read a more influential book--aside from the 48 Laws of Power--than the 33 Strategies of War. At first, I thought this book was only about war and the strategy of blowing people up. Instead, it's about survival. What intrigues me about Robert Greene's masterful work is that he doesn't make things appear perfect. He's not your typical motivational speaker where if you have a tinge of hope, everything will be juuuust fine. No, that's not how it works. It's the law of attraction plus action. We all go through trials and tribulations, and Robert reminds us that to survive in today's world, we can't lead a life of boredom and slothiness. Remember the famous question, "What do you want to be when you grow up"? Well, I believe that more than half of the human population still can't come up with a clear answer. And I don't want to place myself above anybody else because I could include myself in that bunch. However, after reading this book, it made me realize that it's a dog-eat-dog world, and to survive you must " fight like hell" to get out alive.
That's as far as I will go with my review on Robert Greene's work of art. If you cross this book in a bookstore or library, pick it up; take it home; and start to change your life.

Editorial Review:

Strategies for winning the subtle social game of everyday life—from the bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power and The Art of Seduction

Robert Greene’s first two groundbreaking guides, The 48 Laws of Power and The Art of Seduction, espouse profound, timeless lessons from events in history to help readers vanquish an enemy or ensnare an unsuspecting victim. Now, with The 33 Strategies of War, Greene has crafted an important new addition to this ruthlessly unique series. Structured in Greene’s trademark style, The 33 Strategies of War is a brilliant distillation of the strategies of battle that can help us gain mastery in the modern world. It is the I Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun-tzu’s Art of War.

Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior

Dick Couch

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Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In combating terror, America can no longer depend on its conventional military superiority and the use of sophisticated technology. More than ever, we need men like those of the Army Special Forces–the legendary Green Berets.

In Chosen Soldier, Dick Couch draws on nearly a year spent at Special Forces training facilities and offers an unprecedented view of the education of these men.

Following the experiences of one class of soldiers as they endure this physically and mentally exhausting ordeal, Couch spells out in fascinating detail the demanding selection process and grueling field exercises, the high-level technical training and intensive language courses, and the simulated battle problems that test everything from how well SF candidates gather operational intelligence to their skills at negotiating with volatile, often hostile, local leaders. Chosen Soldier paints a vivid portrait of an elite group, and a process that forges America’s smartest, most versatile, and most valuable fighting force.

War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning

Chris Hedges

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 113 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

"An Enticing Elixir" 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is one of the most disturbing and unsettling books I have read since I examined "The New Pearl Harbor" by David Griffin. It was written by a Pulitzer Prize winning war correspondent who has covered wars for more than 20 years. It isn't the rantings of an ivory tower academic. He has covered wars in El Salvador, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq and elsewhere. He has been imprisoned, beaten by military police and attacked by death squads. His perspective deserves to be taken seriously and soberly. This book is neither a diatribe against war nor an argument for pacifism. His claim is that he "wrote this book not to dissuade us from war but to understand it. It is especially important that we who wield such massive force across the globe see within ourselves the seeds of our own obliteration. We must guard against the myth of war and the drug of war that can, together, render us blind and callous as some of those we battle."

He points out how, rashly and quickly, only three days after 9/11, the Congress granted the President the right "to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks." This resolution was passed unanimously by the Senate and with only one dissenting vote, from Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, by the House of Representatives. She warned that military action could not guarantee the safety of the country and, "as we act, let us not become the evil we deplore."

He sets down the basic premise of the book with these words. "The enduring attraction of war is that it can give us what we long for in life, even with its destruction and carnage. It can give us purpose, meaning and a reason for being. Only when we are in the midst of conflict does the shallowness and vapidness of much of our lives become apparent. War is an enticing elixir. It gives us resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble. And those who have the least meaning in their lives, the impoverished refugees in Gaza, the disenfranchised north African immigrants in France and even the legions of young who live in the splendid indolence and safety of the industrialized world, are all susceptible to war's appeal...."

Before I could recover from his assault on my ill-informed conscience, I remembered how evangelical religion has given sanction and certitude to the war in Iraq. This haunting word, reported in "Utne," of Sam Ross, a paratrooper wounded in Iraq is a vivid testimony to the truth of his thesis. "I lost my left leg, just below the knee. Lost my eyesight....I have shrapnel in pretty much every part of my body. Got my finger blown off...I had a hole blown through my right leg....It hurts a lot, that's about it. You know, not really anything major. Just little things....It was the best experience of my life."

This book is a clear call to us to understand just what continues to take place in Iraq as President Bush refuses to end it. My guess is that he finds meaning in that conflict. Hedges says that it gives us meaning! But there is another force, maybe even a new and unsuspected force. It is love regardless of the violence inflicted upon us. There is meaning in a life lived differently. I suggest that you read this book carefully.

Editorial Review:

As a veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. Hedges, who is also a former divinity student, has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive: “It gives us purpose, meaning, a reason for living.”

Drawing on his own experience and on the literature of combat from Homer to Michael Herr, Hedges shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies, corrupting politics, destroying culture, and perverting the most basic human desires. Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a work of terrible power and redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary.

The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual

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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When the U.S. military invaded Iraq, it lacked a common understanding of the problems inherent in counterinsurgency campaigns. It had neither studied them, nor developed doctrine and tactics to deal with them. It is fair to say that in 2003, most Army officers knew more about the U.S. Civil War than they did about counterinsurgency.

The U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual was written to fill that void. The result of unprecedented collaboration among top U.S. military experts, scholars, and practitioners in the field, the manual espouses an approach to combat that emphasizes constant adaptation and learning, the importance of decentralized decision-making, the need to understand local politics and customs, and the key role of intelligence in winning the support of the population. The manual also emphasizes the paradoxical and often counterintuitive nature of counterinsurgency operations: sometimes the more you protect your forces, the less secure you are; sometimes the more force you use, the less effective it is; sometimes doing nothing is the best reaction.

An new introduction by Sarah Sewall, director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, places the manual in critical and historical perspective, explaining the significance and potential impact of this revolutionary challenge to conventional U.S. military doctrine.
An attempt by our military to redefine itself in the aftermath of 9/11 and the new world of international terrorism, The U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual will play a vital role in American military campaigns for years to come.

The University of Chicago Press will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to the Fisher House Foundation, a private-public partnership that supports the families of America’s injured servicemen. To learn more about the Fisher House Foundation, visit www.fisherhouse.org.

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