Customer Reviews

The Pentagon and the Art of War: The Qu

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This book was originally published in the early 1980s, when the U.S. Armed Forces were fairly close to their post-Viet Nam low point. Luttwak had an excellent overview of what we were doing right, and what we needed to change.

Twenty years later, we have, man for man, the best Armed Forces in our history, and possibly the best in the world. We've also implemented many of Luttwak's ideas. I don't think that's a coincidence.

The book resists easy summary, but when Luttwak explains why we need MORE "waste, fraud, and mismanagement" in procurement, or how some problems CAN be solved by "throwing money at them," he pre-figured his later STRATEGY: THE LOGIC OF WAR AND PEACE.

Though old, the book is still worth reading. The U.S. Armed Forces didn't become as messed up as they were in the 1970s by accident or bad luck. They ended that way because of various processes that tend to recur. Luttwak did a good job highlighting these processes, explaining how they resulted in a military that couldn't fight worth a damn, and noting the ways the various processes were natural tendencies for the armed forces. Reading this book provides, in large part, a citizen's guide to maintaing a military worth having.

A book that must be read by all Americans concerned with national security.