From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity [Hardcover]

David Axe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2011

Logistics includes the planning and practice of moving “stuff”—raw materials, tools, finished products, and even people—from one place to another. It carried American settlers over the sparsely populated Great Plains to connect the East Coast to the West Coast and has underpinned our domestic prosperity ever since. Logistics also solidified the global power and influence of the United States by guaranteeing our ability to rapidly reinforce Europe in the world wars, by helping us win the Cold War, and by enabling the current U.S. military to fight two wars at once. Further, logistics undergirds the world economy as swelling populations vie for shrinking resources, including energy, water, arable land, food, and cheap labor. Natural disasters urgently increase such demand.

From A to B is the story of modern American logistics, which will continue to shape the nation’s role in this century. The book begins with a U.S. Army transportation company in Iraq during the height of insurgent attacks on American supply networks. Then it tours the shipyards, railways, highways, airports, classrooms, corporate boardrooms, and laboratories that make up our complex and colorful transportation culture. With competition stiffening and our national transportation infrastructure crumbling, we must find ways to move resources and products even more efficiently if we are to thrive. From A to B presents this challenge.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"From big rigs running supply lines in Iraq, to the next generation of robotic cars, From A to B has it all. David Axe, one of our most savvy young war journalists, captures the hidden story of American power: our massive network of logistics."—P. W. Singer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century

"There's an old military saying: amateurs talk strategy; professionals talk logistics. When it comes to war reporting, David Axe is more than a pro. He's one of the bravest, most incisive conflict journalists we've got. And he writes so well, he makes convoy runs and pallet loads as gripping as firefights."—Noah Shachtman, contributing editor, Wired


"From A to B is an engaging look at the diverse influences future technologies will have on our ability to move and supply our troops and our economy. Axe continues to entertain and inform—and his closing comment is a clarion call: 'World-beating logistics requires investment on a national scale. That kind of investment requires political will'".—Cpt. Nathan Finney, Review, Military Review, January 2013

"Axe has produced a though-provoking, never dull but always vivid profile of a side to military and naval operations that is by and large ignored by those profiling today's turbulent world."—Review, Warships International Fleet Review

About the Author

DAVID AXE is a freelance war correspondent based in Columbia, South Carolina. Since 2005 he has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, East Timor, Somalia, Congo, and Chad, among other conflict zones. His work has appeared in hundreds of magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Times, the Village Voice, Popular Mechanics, Wired, Popular Science, Salon, and the Columbia Journalism Review. Axe has appeared on BBC Radio, C-SPAN, and PBS, and is the author of several books, including the graphic novel War Is Boring: Bored Stiff, Scared to Death in the World’s Worst War Zones with Matt Bors (NAL, 2010) and From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity (Potomac Books, 2012).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc. (November 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597975257
• ISBN-13: 978-1597975254
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,550,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Axe is a military correspondent living in Columbia, South Carolina. Since 2005 he has reported from the U.K., Iraq, Lebanon, Japan, East Timor, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chad, Nicaragua, Kenya, Gabon, Congo and other countries. He is a regular contributor to Voice of America, AOL, Wired and many others. David is the author of the graphic novels WAR FIX and WAR IS BORING. He blogs at www.warisboring.com. David can be reached at david_axe-at-hotmail.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Good promise -- poor execution December 31, 2011

By A. Bert

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am a fan of Mr. Axe and his War is Boring blog. Have been following his reporting as a combat arms officer for sometime as I feel he gives an honest view of modern war -- from the shear terror of combat, to the boring hours in between. When I first read the description of this book I was excited because logistics truly is the lynch pin in the projection of global military power.

Wow -- was I disappointed in the seemingly disjointed and haphazard manner in which this book was presented. Instead of a tight and focused look on the underpinnings and means in which modern logistics operate, the reader is left with a series of seemingly disjointed and disconnected vignettes on the development of robotic cars, to a tangent on how mass transportation will never be effective in the United States. Although I have always enjoyed stories intertwined with real world examples of real people overcoming challenges -- even these sidebars in this book felt forced.

My final impression was these were a series of short articles written in the past and sandwiched into a book.

Here's to hoping the next effort is a little more flushed out, focused and relevant.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not just how to get from A to B... December 14, 2011

By Josh Davis

Format:Hardcover

I came into this book expecting a look at the nuts and bolts of how the US military gets their ammo and fuel from the homefront to battlefront. To be sure, there is some of that, but I kind of felt like I wanted more. There is an interesting glimpse of technologies on the horizon such as robot trucks and space delivery systems, but what I found fascinating was Axe's descriptions of how the United States is using this massive logistical machine for things other than waging war. His chapter on the US Navy and Air Force response to the Haiti earthquake helps illustrate how a strong logistical backbone can be easily adapted from a hostile mission to a humanitarian one very quickly. Along with it, he talked about US Navy "soft power" cruises through Latin America and their effect on those countries. This was a pleasant surprise. If you'd have asked me to read a book about humanitarian efforts, I would give you a quick "Hell no" but I actually enjoyed that part of the book the most. It's a not an exhaustive, detailed look into military logistics, but it does offer some interesting insight what keeps the US military on the go.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Axe Branches Out - A Broad Survey of American Logistics December 10, 2011

By Raymond Kimball

Format:Hardcover

For those of you who are fans of David Axe's war reporting (like me), get ready for something different. I came into this book expecting to read about military logistics, which is something I've lived and breathed for nigh on a decade now. And while this book has a fair amount of that, it's actually a much broader tour d'horizon of American logistics writ large, how the civilian and military logistics aspects of American society fuel one another, and how both shape and define modern America.

Using many of his past writings as a baseline, Axe takes us on a tour of the land, sea and air elements of what's happening now and what's coming next in American logistics. These are, at times, sobering (convoy operations in Iraq in 2004-2005 using makeshift armor and prayer), spellbinding (an at-sea refueling operation that , in and of itself, is worth the price of the book), and infuriating(the carefully canned narrow-view statements of various industry hacks). The glimpses of the future are equally stunning: autonomous cars, vast sea bases, airships, and space marines (I dare you to say that last one aloud without giggling).

Flaws? Axe makes clear up front that this is not meant to be an in-depth treatment of the subject, and he's right. Because this is pieced together from lots of his previous work, the transitions between some subjects are pretty tenuous. But I should also make clear that although there are clear outlines of his previous postings from War is Boring and Danger Room, there is a wealth of new material here worth your time.

If nothing else, I guarantee that you will never use the term "hybrid car" the same way again.