Jonathan Carroll's Beyond Black Hawk Down: Intervention, Nation-Building, and Insurgency in Somalia, 1992-1995 delivers a searing, meticulously researched analysis of the US and UN interventions in Somalia amid a humanitarian crisis defined by famine, clan warfare, and political collapse. Unlike...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Blood%2c+Mud%2c+and+Oil+Paint%3a+The+Remarkable+Year+That+Made+Winston...-a0890200373Blood, Mud, and Oil Paint: The Remarkable Year That Made Winston Churchill

Bookshelves all over the world groan under the weight of volumes about Winston Churchill, the British prime minister whose statesmanship led the West to victory over Germany and Japan in World War II. Consequently, this endlessly fascinating and inspiring figure attracts an inexhaustible number of scholars and...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Total+Defense%3a+The+New+Deal+and+the+Invention+of+National+Security.-a0890200372Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security

Author Andrew Preston's Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security addresses how the United States transitioned from the "free security" of the early republic to the current situation in which the nation sees threats everywhere. The problem has had, and continues to have, serious implications for...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lessons+Learned+and+Unlearned%3a+The+Drivers+of+US+Indirect-Fire...-a0890200371Artilleryman and strategist Brennan S. Deveraux's short but comprehensive Lessons Learned and Unlearned: The Drivers of US Indirect-Fire Innovation analyzes a century of artillery development. The book examines how the "King of Battle" evolved from its professional infancy before World War I to conquer the complex challenges artillery faced in the twenty-first century. Deveraux moves beyond...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Occupation%3a+Russian+Rule+in+South-Eastern+Ukraine.-a0890200370Occupation: Russian Rule in South-Eastern Ukraine

Anyone interested in practical or theoretical problems of deterrence and Joint war fighting would benefit from reading Professor David Lewis's case study of events in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, Occupation: Russian Rule in South-Eastern Ukraine. His work highlights aspects of conflict that are understudied and inadequately...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Obama+and+the+Bomb%3a+New+START%2c+Russia+and+the+Politics+of+Post-Cold...-a0890200369Can the great powers find common ground for cooperation in a tenuous multipolar world? February 5, 2026, marked the end of an era of this potential cooperation as the last bilateral nuclear treaty between the United States and Russia, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expired. Frank Jones's book Obama and the Bomb: New START, Russia and the Politics of Post-Cold War Arms...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+New+Calculus+of+Escalation%3a+Avoiding+Armageddon+in+Great+Power...-a0890200368The first half of 2025 witnessed two dramatic attacks against an adversarial state's nuclear enterprise--Ukraine's Operation Spider Web and US Operation Midnight Hammer. These operations employed emerging and advanced technologies, coupled with conventional nonnuclear weapons, to strike nuclear capabilities deep within the target's homeland. Had such events occurred during the Cold War,...]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Patton%27s+Tactician%3a+The+War+Diary+of+Lieutenant+General+Geoffrey...-a0890200367Patton's Tactician: The War Diary of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes

These books provide valuable insights into two significant but mostly forgotten US Army generals from World War II in Europe.

Tubby: Raymond O. Barton and the United States Army, 1889-1963 is a biographical treatment of Major General Raymond "Tubby" Barton and the 4th Infantry Division during World War II....]]>Wed, 3 Jun 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Turning+Tactical+Victories+into+Strategic+Success%3a+Counterinsurgency...-a0890200364After two decades of unsuccessful counterinsurgent efforts in the Middle East, the US military is again preparing for great-power conflict, as it did in the wake of its last defeat in the Vietnam War.(1) The causes of the United States' defeat in the Afghanistan War will be studied for decades to come.

In the first In Focus special commentary, "The State of the US Army," Richard D. Hooker Jr. argues that the US Army remains dangerously optimized for counterinsurgency, leaving it...]]>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Strategic+Rivalries%3a+How+Are+They+Won%3f-a0879269035This edition of the Strategic Competition Corner builds on the inaugural one, which challenged the definition and nature of strategic competition as outlined in the US Joint Concept for Competing (JCC). (1) The JCC defines strategic competition as the "persistent and long-term struggle that occurs between two or more adversaries seeking to pursue incompatible interests without necessarily...]]>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Strategic+Theory+and+Clausewitz%27s+Trinitarian+Test.-a0879269030Carl von Clausewitz's trinity has received a surfeit of attention over the past few decades for reasons good and bad. Bad reasons have usually included misreading or misunderstanding the half page of text that represents the core of Clausewitz's discussion of the trinity, leading to a surge of works in the 1990s arguing Clausewitz was growing obsolete. But ironically, this surge triggered more...]]>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Legacies+Worth+Considering%3a+(Re)examining+the+Assumptions+Behind...-a0879269027The United States and its allies consider "denial" to constitute both a challenge and a solution in the context of potential adversarial interactions with China. The alleged challenge resides in China's capacity to deny allied tactical performance and operational sustainment in the South China Sea, thus deterring allies from taking meaningful actions in the theater. In response, the United...]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tradecraft%2c+Tactics%2c+and+Dirty+Tricks%3a+Russian+Intelligence+and...-a0879269044Transparency between the Intelligence Community (IC) and the American public has been a priority for the last four Directors of National Intelligence, peaking in the current administration under the Honorable Tulsi Gabbard. While essential for building public trust, the IC's openness with its capabilities and missions is difficult in a profession that requires secrecy. Sean M. Wiswesser's...]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Reflections+on+the+Russia-Ukraine+War.-a0879269043Now in its fifth year, and with no immediate end in sight, the Russia-Ukraine War has been examined in numerous books. A quick search on Amazon found more than 70 recent titles with the phrase "war in Ukraine." It is unsurprising, given that we are witnessing the most destructive war in Europe since World War II. The book stands out from the others, particularly for its varied theoretical...]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/How+Drones+Fight%3a+How+Small+Drones+Are+Revolutionizing+Warfare.-a0879269042Lars Celander, a former Swedish Army technician and design engineer with a Master of Science in physics, offers a compact survey of small drone systems, operational employment, and emerging trends in drone warfare. In an era where unmanned systems are reshaping the tactical fight and operational-level planning, How Drones Fight serves as a useful primer for military professionals seeking to...]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Economic+War%3a+Ukraine+and+the+Global+Conflict+Between+Russia+and+the...-a0879269041While the United States faces increasing threats from around the globe, it sorely misunderstands the advantages and limitations of geoeconomics. In his book, Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West, Maximilian Hess, a political risk analyst and fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, describes the beginning and evolution of the economic war between...]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Winning+Without+Fighting%3a+Irregular+Warfare+and+Strategic+Competition...-a0879269040On a recent holiday, several undersea cables between Estonia and Finland were damaged, including the severing of one power line. Finland then seized a Russian ship it believed was responsible for the sabotage. This incident is just one example of a growing number of disturbing attacks across Europe targeting countries, businesses, and individuals supporting Ukraine's defense against Russia....]]>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Spy+and+the+State%3a+The+History+of+American+Intelligence.-a0879269039While civil-military relations has been a robust field since Samuel Huntington's seminal The Soldier and the State (1957), civil-intelligence relations has lagged. In The Spy and the State: The History of American Intelligence, Jeffrey P. Rogg fills this void, offering a work that is poised to become a staple in college classrooms.

The Second Continental Congress created the Army on June 14, 1775; George Washington assumed command of the Army a few weeks later, on July 3--a year and a day before the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great...]]>