America's Splendid Little Wars: A Short History of U.S. Engagements from the Fall of Saigonto Baghdad [Paperback]

Peter Huchthausen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2004

From the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 to the end of the twentieth century, the United States committed its forces to more than a dozen military operations. Offering a fresh analysis of the Iranian hostage rescue attempt, the invasions of Granada and Panama, the first Gulf War, the missions in Somalia and Bosnia, and more, author and distinguished U.S. naval captain Peter Huchthausen presents a detailed history of each military engagement through eyewitness accounts, exhaustive research, and his unique insider perspective as an intelligence expert. This timely and riveting military history is “a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the nature of war today” (Stephen Trent Smith).

Editorial Reviews

Review

In clean and economic prose, Captain Huchthausen delivers a concise narrative of the action. -- The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Captain Peter Huchthausen, U.S. Navy (Ret.), served as a Soviet naval analyst and submarine expert, and as a naval attaché in Yugoslavia, Romania, and Moscow. His many tours of duty included serving as a watch officer during the blockade of Cuba in 1962 and as commander of a patrol division on Vietnam's Mekong Delta in 1967. In addition to his writing, he is a consultant, most recently on the film K-19: The Widowmaker.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142004650
• ISBN-13: 978-0142004654
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating overview of an eventful era in U.S. military history, August 28, 2005

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Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America's Splendid Little Wars: A Short History of U.S. Engagements from the Fall of Saigonto Baghdad (Paperback)

"America's Splendid Little Wars: A Short History of U.S. Engagements from the Fall of Saigon to Baghdad," by Peter Huchthausen, is a fascinating guide to a quarter century of American military actions. Starting with the S.S. _Mayaguez_ incident off the coast of Cambodia in 1975, Huchthausen tells the story of many missions: the failed 1980 attempt to rescue hostages in Iran, intervention in Lebanon in the 1980s, the 1983 Grenada invasion, the 1986 attack on Libya, activities in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s, intervention in Panama in 1989, Operation Desert Shield (1990-91) and the 1991 Gulf War, the 1991 relief effort on behalf of the Kurds of northern Iraq, actions in Somalia in the early 1990s, intervention in Bosnia in the 1990s, and the 1999 Kosovo campaign.

The book is full of good features: logical organization, more than a dozen clear and informative maps, several pages of black-and-white photographs, a comprehensive nine-page bibliography, and an index. Huchthausen's prose style is clear and to-the-point. A paragraph about the author notes that he is a retired U.S. Navy captain, and that he served as an analyst of the Soviet navy, a submarine expert, and a naval attache. In his introduction Huchthausen notes that the phrase "splendid little war" was used in 1898, by a U.S. ambassador, to describe the Spanish-American War (incidentally, Theodore Roosevelt's classic memoir of that war, "The Rough Riders," would make a great companion text for this book). Huchthausen notes the irony of his book's title: "The U.S. military encounters from 1975 to 1999 were neither splendid nor small."

Huchthausen offers gripping descriptions of the unfolding events, both political and military, of each "little war." He gives historical backgrounds for the conflicts and also provides interesting analyses of the U.S. actions. Significant recurring themes include relations between the press and the military, the combination of assets from different branches of the U.S. military, and the use of unconventional forces such as Navy SEALs and the Army's Delta Force. We get glimpses of some fascinating personalities: U.S. Admiral William J. Crowe, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, Somali warlord Muhammad Farah Aideed, Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, and more. In an afterword (to the 2004 edition), Huchthausen reflects on more recent U.S. wars in Afghanistan (since 2001) and Iraq (since 2003).

Yes, one can only fit so much information into the relatively short space allotted to each "little war," and at times I felt that the book didn't give a full enough story. Still, as a general overview of this era the book is very useful, and the excellent bibliography offers interested readers plenty more places to go if he or she wants to learn more. For additional companion texts that cover some of the same material from other valuable perspectives, I recommend "Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL," by Chuck Pfarrer, and "Inside Delta Force," by Eric Haney. Overall, I consider "America's Splendid Little Wars" a well-written and valuable book--in particular, essential reading for contemporary military professionals.