The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

~ Colonel Thomas X. Hammes USMC (Author)
Key Phrases: long timelines, information dominance, unrestricted warfare, United States, World War, West Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hammes is a career Marine Corps officer, and with this selection, he argues that the U.S. has adapted poorly in response to the new generation of guerrilla warfare. Fourth-generation warfare, as Hammes calls it, is what American forces encounter in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israelis find in Palestine, and it is the way of the future: guerrilla warfare characterized by political acumen and patience, using communications networks and strategic strikes to demoralize and exhaust conventionally superior militaries. For many military strategists, including those presently running the Defense Department, this new world order amounts to a call to newfangled technological arms, but for Hammes, smart bombs and spy drones are not the answer. The solution is to study our enemies as they have studied us and build a networked, flexible, and, here's the kicker, less hierarchical military structure that employs humans to fight the humans fighting us. As few as five years ago, such analysis would have had limited appeal, but in today's political climate, this concise, surprisingly readable book will attract a broad readership. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Parameters: U.S. Army War College Quarterly, Autumn 2005

“This is a stimulating – nay, provocative – book that should cause military readers and all associated with the security of the United States to question their fundamental assumptions. It is also a gutsy book because the author, a serving officer, asserts in effect that the Secretary of Defense, his team in the Pentagon, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are wrong in the way they are fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He further contends that the United States stands a good chance of losing its wars in the future unless the forces confront the realities of warfare in this century.”

Military Review, March/April 2007

“Can a two-and-one-half-year-old book be reviewed as a classic? It can, and should, if it says the kinds of smart, prescient things that Hammes had to say in 2004.

 

“The Sling and the Stone was written to appeal to a vast and diverse audience. It provides numerous jewels of information for the general reader as well as senior military leaders, military operational planners and supporters, interagency personnel, and U.S. political leaders who are looking for a provocative read to aid them in making informed decisions in support of U.S. national security. Since its first publication, this visionary book has ignited others in public and private life to read, research, write, and advocate for the United States to change its defense posture in order to meet the challenge posed by the advent of 4GW. Many of Hammes’ ideas have now been adopted by the military and are currently in practice in Iraq and Afghanistan. Other ideas are being studied extensively within the Washington Beltway. U.S. homeland security and counterinsurgency doctrines have also been strongly influenced and shaped by this book. Hammes has truly been a catalyst for change … Hammes’s book is truly an enlightening must-read for Military Review’s readers, particularly those attending career military schools. It should remain so for many years to come.”

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

---

Product Details Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Zenith Press; First edition (September 12, 2004) Language: English ISBN-10: 0760320594 ISBN-13: 978-0760320594 Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,034 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #73 in  Books > History > Military > Strategy

---

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Thomas X. Hammes Page

Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book:

---

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
long timelines, information dominance, unrestricted warfare, improvised explosive devices, personnel system

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, World War, West Bank, Department of Defense, Saudi Arabia, The Sling, National Guard, United Nations, North Vietnamese, Middle East, Northern Alliance, South Vietnam, North Korea, Soviet Union, Marine Corps, People's War, The Slim, Communist Party, New York, President Bush, Ariel Sharon, Gulf War, Special Forces, Transformation Planning Guidance, World Trade Center

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book:

---

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 67 books:

• On War (Dodo Press) by Carl von, General Clausewitz in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• Pocket World in Figures 2003 (The Economist books) by Economist in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• Military Innovation in the Interwar Period by Williamson R. Murray on page 25, and Back Matter
• The Cat from Hue: A Vietnam War Story by John Laurence in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB by Milton Bearden in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 67 books this book cites

---

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The Armed Forces of the USA in the Asia-Pacific Region by Stanley B. Weeks

Discusses:

• dominant maneuver
• Department of Defense
• Marine Corps

The Armed Forces of the USA in the Asia-Pacific Region by Stanley B. Weeks Discusses: dominant maneuver Department of Defense Marine Corps Loading...

---

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	76% buy the item featured on this page: The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century 4.3 out of 5 stars (43) $19.67
	9% buy The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One 4.6 out of 5 stars (59) $18.45
	6% buy Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam 4.3 out of 5 stars (55) $11.56
	5% buy The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual 4.8 out of 5 stars (24) $10.20

Explore similar items

---

Tags Customers Associate with This Product  (What's this?) Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people. Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.  military history(8) military science(4) strategy(4) asymmetric(2) coin(2) war(2) afghanistan(1) b2(1) book(1) counterinsurgen cy(1) foreign policy(1) See all 19 tags... Your tags: Add your first tag

Search Products Tagged with   See most popular tags

---

 

Customer Reviews

43 Reviews 5 star:  (23) 4 star:  (15) 3 star:  (3) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (2)           Average Customer Review 4.3 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 164 of 168 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the battles, let's win the war, October 20, 2004 By  C. W. Richards (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    In 1991, Israeli historian and military analyst Martin van Creveld shocked the defense community with his book, The Transformation of War. At least, he shocked that part more worried about post-Soviet threats than about buying weapons. Van Creveld preached that future danger to the West would come from groups other than state armies and that they would employ means that we would find repulsively violent and indiscriminate. In the intervening 13 years, all this has come to pass, but, as Marine Colonel T. X. Hammes eloquently argues in this important new book, you ain't seen nothin' yet. What we are in fact seeing is "fourth generation warfare," (4GW) a term coined in a famous 1989 paper in the Marine Corps Gazette and now easily available on the Internet. Hammes argues that 4GW, far from being something academic or esoteric, represents the cumulative efforts of "practical people" trying to solve the problem of confronting superior military power. Their efforts are bearing fruit: "At the strategic level, the combination of our perceived technological superiority and our bureaucratic organization sets us up for a major failure against a more agile, intellectually prepared enemy." Amen. The failure, in Hammes' view, will not be defeat in some Clausewitzian "decisive battle," but failure nonetheless as American politicians, tiring of the costs and despairing of victory, withdraw our forces short of achieving our objectives. He traces the evolution of 4GW through its successes--Mao, the Vietnamese, Sandinistas, Somalis, and Palestinians (in the first Intifada)--and its failures--the Al-Aqsa Intifada and perhaps al-Qa'ida, although the verdict, I fear, is still out on the latter. It is the transnational element--we are not confronting state-based armies or even isolated insurgencies--that is driving the evolution of guerilla warfare into 4GW. So the 4GW danger in Iraq is not so much the insurgency but whether the conflict acts as a recruiting depot, training facility, and War Lab for violent transnational ideological groups, as was the case in Afghanistan. Hammes concludes that when 4GW organizations remain true to their socially networked roots, and keep their focus on influencing their state opponents' desires to continue, they win. Such organizations only lose when they drop out of the 4GW paradigm--as when the Palestinians of the Al Aqsa Intifida shifted their focus away from influencing Israeli and Western opinion and directly towards destruction of the State of Israel, or perhaps when al-Qa'ida brought the war to the US homeland on 9/11. In the last third of the book, Hammes raises issues that should trouble every US political and military leader. Perhaps most penetrating, given DoD's current focus, is the observation is that if information technology is the key to success in future combat, then we're probably going to lose. The reason is that dispersed, rapidly evolving networks can more quickly invent ways to exploit new information technologies than can large, bureaucratic, hierarchical structures such as the Pentagon. The parade of viruses, Trojans, and other worms that assault our (non-Mac) computers daily attest to the truth of this argument. The solution, in Hammes' view, is to become more of a network ourselves. He is brutally realistic about the problems this entails--for starters we would need to eliminate about 50% of the field grade and general officers on active duty, which agrees with most studies of successful transformation--to "lean," for example-- which suggest reducing management ranks by 25-40%. Such thinking is a refreshing change from the gradualist school of "transformation" prevalent in DoD these days. Many of his other recommendations will be familiar to those who have read US Army Major Don Vandergriff's The Path to Victory, which Hammes credits as the basis for his own personnel proposals: Solve the people problems and our troops will figure out ways to employ suitable technologies. Hammes' application of Vandergriff's ideas to fashioning a military capable of 4GW are among the most innovative parts of the book and potentially among the most decisive. By the way, watch for Hammes' sly take on the phrase "coalition of the willing," which reveals a biting wit generally thought rare in Marine colonels. If you are curious about where armed conflict is heading over the next 20-30 years, you must read The Sling and The Stone. You may not agree with all of Colonel Hammes' recommendations, but you'll find it hard to argue that he hasn't made a correct diagnosis of the problem. And just in time. 51 of 53 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Overall Excellent Primer, February 12, 2005 By  Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    Amazon Verified Purchase Edit of 20 Dec 07 to add links. In the context of the thousands of book on strategy, force structure, emerging threats, and so on, this is a solid primer and excellent work for both those who know nothing of the many other books, and a good place to start for conventional military minds ready to think more deeply about transformation. This is an excellent book over-all. His two key points are clear: 4th Generation Wars take decades, not months as the Pentagon likes to fight; and only 4th Generation Wars have defeated super-powers--the US losing three times, Russia in Afghanistan, France in Viet-Nam, etc. The author offers solid critiques of the Pentagon's mediocre strategy (Joint Vision 20XX) and its preference for technology over people, an excellent short list of key players in world affairs, interesting lists and a discussion of insurgent versus coalition force strengths and weaknesses in Iraq, and a brutal--positively brutal--comparison of the pathetic performance of "secret" imagery taking days or weeks to order up, versus, "good enough" commercial imagery that can be gotten in hours. There are flashes of brilliance that suggest that the author's next book will be just as good if not better. He understands the war of ideas and talks about insurgent handbills as a form of ammunition that the US is not seeing, reading, or understanding; he points out that Al Qaeda is like a venture capitalist, franchising and subsidizing or inspiring distributed terrorism; and he is superbly on target, on page 39, when he points out that when Al Qaeda attacks in the US, the only thing that is "moving" is information or knowledge. Everything else they pick up locally--hence, US homeland security comes down to intercepting the information, not the players or the things they use to attack us. The author is among those who feel that we must nail Egypt, Syria, and Iran, among others (I would include Pakistan), for exporting support to terrorism. I have a number of underlinings and margin comments throughout this book, so it is by no means a light read. It is a very fine place to start understanding war in the 21st Century, and an excellent foundation for reading the more nuanced and broader works of GI Wilson, Max Manwaring, Steve Metz, Ralph Peters, and others. Other seminal works in this area, with reviews: Uncomfortable Wars Revisited (International and Security Affairs Series) The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Militant Muslim Combat Methods The Tiger's Way: A U.S. Private's Best Chance for Survival War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the 21st Century 13 of 14 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Good Darwinian Perspective on War, July 11, 2005 By  T. R. OConnor "professor" (Clarksville, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Amazon Verified Purchase War evolves, rather than transforms, is the central thesis of this book. The author should not be taken to task for over-emphasizing Fourth Generation warfare so much. The way I took it is that the author was rightly proud of his championing certain concepts, so the overemphasis was not excessive. It's a good primer on insurgency and counterinsurgency as well, and even starts to get into the neofunctionalist approach to nation building. Better works can indeed be found, such as Chaplin's in-depth Mao's Legacy and surely on Vietnam, but the book really starts picking up with the chapters on al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Overall, all the case studies in the middle chapters are enlightening. The last five chapters also contain some relatively good ideas for military reform, but the focus is too much on personnel issues, such as 360-degree job evaluations and the ideas in Vandergriff's Revolution in Human Affairs. Although the personnel focus is understandable given the author's brief coverage of CONUS and Homeland Security issues, the strength of this book lies not in the critique of bureaucracy it tries to provide, but in the way the author uses history and a consistent perspective to generate social scientific insights, and in that sense, it is traditional, but also innovative and suggestive in some places.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars We Need a New Generation of Military Leaders to Succeed USMC Colonel Hammes provides a general education about fourth-generation warfare (4GW) and its implications for our future. Read more Published 1 month ago by Citizen John 5.0 out of 5 stars Explains Afghanistan & al Qaeda method of warfare I found this book to be well written, easy to read and a very good explanation of how terrorists seek to disrupt our world. Read more Published 2 months ago by CurlyWolf of Texas 4.0 out of 5 stars Intricate and Well Written I found The Sling and The Stone to be intricate and well written. The facts seem to be in order, and the narrative flows smoothly. Published 3 months ago by Heath Sides 1.0 out of 5 stars Materialism run amok The author attempts to explain changes in the geopolitical environment through evolution. This explanation is both materialistic in its view of human society and stands unproven... Read more Published 8 months ago by javacalvin 5.0 out of 5 stars an instant classic Col Hammes has written an must-read for all current and future military leaders about the challenges we will be facing in this century. Published 12 months ago by Jeff Olsen 5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, neutral and critical of business as usual This book joins a number of others (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife, The Utility of Force,Tactics of the Crescent Moon) that advocate a more carefully thought out, less... Read more Published 19 months ago by WiltDurkey 4.0 out of 5 stars 'We Sleep Safe in Our Beds...' I have read the many articles Col Hammes wrote for the Marine Corps Gazette over the years, and while I did not always agree with him, I always found his work provocative,... Read more Published 19 months ago by Kevin F. Kiley 4.0 out of 5 stars New Warfare Great book on 4th Generation warfare and GWOT. It also mentions the elements of DIME (ILE students) Would recommend you give it a read. Highly recommend. Published 23 months ago by D. Brown 3.0 out of 5 stars Hammes has done better I was compelled to buy this book after hearing the author lecture at my school. He made excellent points and had great insight into future during that lecture, however the book... Read more Published 23 months ago by Staz 5.0 out of 5 stars The Sling and The Stone: On War in The 21st Century A must read for anyone who studies the evolution of warfare. Col. Hammes focuses on how to win the war rather than just winning the battles. Read more Published 23 months ago by Dale Stewart Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

---

Customer Discussions

This product's forum Discussion Replies Latest Post 4G warfare 1 September 2006 What? no takers? 0 August 2006 › See all 2 discussions...   [Start the discussion] Start a new discussion Topic: First post: Receive e-mail when new posts are made Prompts for sign-in   Guidelines Active discussions in related forums Discussion Replies Latest Post history THE FIRST WORLD WAR - who wants to talk about it? 115 20 minutes ago history Should Veterans' Day be renamed ARMISTICE DAY? 10 21 minutes ago military history World War Two: What was the most important battle? 16 49 minutes ago military history The Real Superiority of the P-51 60 12 hours ago textbook Textbooks for Kindle DX? 61 2 days ago war What are the best war novels? 106 2 days ago war Have You Written a War Themed Book-Come Tell Us About It 80 3 days ago textbook textbook scam 66 7 days ago Search Customer Discussions Only search this product's forum

The Military History community Latest activity 59 minutes ago 2,195 customers have contributed 2,810 products, 176 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community The Military Science community Latest activity 2 days ago 751 customers have contributed 1,159 products, 51 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community The War community Latest activity 1 hour ago 7,115 customers have contributed 6,730 products, 684 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community Related forums history (803 discussions) military... (10 discussions) military... textbook (18 discussions) war (30 discussions) Explore more › See all Customer Communities › Your communities

---

Listmania!

Counter-Insurgency and Low-Intensity Conflict: A list by MountainRunner "Matt Armstrong"   Smart Security in an Ambiguous World: A list by Robert D. Steele   Middle East affairs: A list by WiltDurkey Create a Listmania! list

Search Listmania!

---

So You'd Like to...

Learn about Counterinsurgency: A guide by John Nagl   know what's going on in Iraq: A guide by M. Magrath   Talk to Me About Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency?: A guide by Michael J. J. Tiffany Create a guide

Search Guides

---

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.

› See featured Amapedia.com articles

---

Look for Similar Items by Category

• Books > History > Military > Strategy
• Books > History > Military Science

---

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:
21st century history: from c 2000 -
General & world history
Warfare & defence
21st century
History
History - Military / War
Military
History / Military / Strategy
Military - Strategy
Military Science
TECHNOLOGY / Military Science
Military - General
Asymmetric warfare
Counterinsurgency
Military art and science
Operational art (Military scie
Operational art (Military science)
Military History


i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Ad feedback

 

Feedback If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? Is there any other feedback you would like to provide? Your comments can help make our site better for everyone. Please note that we are unable to respond directly to all feedback submitted via this form, but we'll ask you to sign in so we can contact you if needed.

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

› View and edit your browsing history

Get to Know Us Careers Investor Relations Press Releases Amazon and Our Planet Make Money with Us Sell on Amazon Join Associates Self-publish with Us › See all Let Us Help You Shipping Rates & Policies Amazon Prime Returns Help

Canada | China | France | Germany | Japan | United Kingdom  And don't forget: Amazon Windowshop | AmazonWireless | Askville | Audible | DPReview | Endless | IMDb | Shopbop | SoundUnwound | Warehouse Deals by Amazon | Zappos Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press; First edition (September 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760320594
• ISBN-13: 978-0760320594
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,034 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #73 in

  Books > History > Military > Strategy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

164 of 168 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the battles, let's win the war, October 20, 2004

By	C. W. Richards (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In 1991, Israeli historian and military analyst Martin van Creveld shocked the defense community with his book, The Transformation of War. At least, he shocked that part more worried about post-Soviet threats than about buying weapons. Van Creveld preached that future danger to the West would come from groups other than state armies and that they would employ means that we would find repulsively violent and indiscriminate. In the intervening 13 years, all this has come to pass, but, as Marine Colonel T. X. Hammes eloquently argues in this important new book, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

What we are in fact seeing is "fourth generation warfare," (4GW) a term coined in a famous 1989 paper in the Marine Corps Gazette and now easily available on the Internet. Hammes argues that 4GW, far from being something academic or esoteric, represents the cumulative efforts of "practical people" trying to solve the problem of confronting superior military power. Their efforts are bearing fruit: "At the strategic level, the combination of our perceived technological superiority and our bureaucratic organization sets us up for a major failure against a more agile, intellectually prepared enemy." Amen.

The failure, in Hammes' view, will not be defeat in some Clausewitzian "decisive battle," but failure nonetheless as American politicians, tiring of the costs and despairing of victory, withdraw our forces short of achieving our objectives. He traces the evolution of 4GW through its successes--Mao, the Vietnamese, Sandinistas, Somalis, and Palestinians (in the first Intifada)--and its failures--the Al-Aqsa Intifada and perhaps al-Qa'ida, although the verdict, I fear, is still out on the latter.

It is the transnational element--we are not confronting state-based armies or even isolated insurgencies--that is driving the evolution of guerilla warfare into 4GW. So the 4GW danger in Iraq is not so much the insurgency but whether the conflict acts as a recruiting depot, training facility, and War Lab for violent transnational ideological groups, as was the case in Afghanistan.

Hammes concludes that when 4GW organizations remain true to their socially networked roots, and keep their focus on influencing their state opponents' desires to continue, they win. Such organizations only lose when they drop out of the 4GW paradigm--as when the Palestinians of the Al Aqsa Intifida shifted their focus away from influencing Israeli and Western opinion and directly towards destruction of the State of Israel, or perhaps when al-Qa'ida brought the war to the US homeland on 9/11.

In the last third of the book, Hammes raises issues that should trouble every US political and military leader. Perhaps most penetrating, given DoD's current focus, is the observation is that if information technology is the key to success in future combat, then we're probably going to lose. The reason is that dispersed, rapidly evolving networks can more quickly invent ways to exploit new information technologies than can large, bureaucratic, hierarchical structures such as the Pentagon. The parade of viruses, Trojans, and other worms that assault our (non-Mac) computers daily attest to the truth of this argument.

The solution, in Hammes' view, is to become more of a network ourselves. He is brutally realistic about the problems this entails--for starters we would need to eliminate about 50% of the field grade and general officers on active duty, which agrees with most studies of successful transformation--to "lean," for example-- which suggest reducing management ranks by 25-40%. Such thinking is a refreshing change from the gradualist school of "transformation" prevalent in DoD these days.

Many of his other recommendations will be familiar to those who have read US Army Major Don Vandergriff's The Path to Victory, which Hammes credits as the basis for his own personnel proposals: Solve the people problems and our troops will figure out ways to employ suitable technologies. Hammes' application of Vandergriff's ideas to fashioning a military capable of 4GW are among the most innovative parts of the book and potentially among the most decisive.

By the way, watch for Hammes' sly take on the phrase "coalition of the willing," which reveals a biting wit generally thought rare in Marine colonels.

If you are curious about where armed conflict is heading over the next 20-30 years, you must read The Sling and The Stone. You may not agree with all of Colonel Hammes' recommendations, but you'll find it hard to argue that he hasn't made a correct diagnosis of the problem. And just in time.

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall Excellent Primer, February 12, 2005

By	Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Edit of 20 Dec 07 to add links.

In the context of the thousands of book on strategy, force structure, emerging threats, and so on, this is a solid primer and excellent work for both those who know nothing of the many other books, and a good place to start for conventional military minds ready to think more deeply about transformation.

This is an excellent book over-all. His two key points are clear: 4th Generation Wars take decades, not months as the Pentagon likes to fight; and only 4th Generation Wars have defeated super-powers--the US losing three times, Russia in Afghanistan, France in Viet-Nam, etc.

The author offers solid critiques of the Pentagon's mediocre strategy (Joint Vision 20XX) and its preference for technology over people, an excellent short list of key players in world affairs, interesting lists and a discussion of insurgent versus coalition force strengths and weaknesses in Iraq, and a brutal--positively brutal--comparison of the pathetic performance of "secret" imagery taking days or weeks to order up, versus, "good enough" commercial imagery that can be gotten in hours.

There are flashes of brilliance that suggest that the author's next book will be just as good if not better. He understands the war of ideas and talks about insurgent handbills as a form of ammunition that the US is not seeing, reading, or understanding; he points out that Al Qaeda is like a venture capitalist, franchising and subsidizing or inspiring distributed terrorism; and he is superbly on target, on page 39, when he points out that when Al Qaeda attacks in the US, the only thing that is "moving" is information or knowledge. Everything else they pick up locally--hence, US homeland security comes down to intercepting the information, not the players or the things they use to attack us.

The author is among those who feel that we must nail Egypt, Syria, and Iran, among others (I would include Pakistan), for exporting support to terrorism.

I have a number of underlinings and margin comments throughout this book, so it is by no means a light read. It is a very fine place to start understanding war in the 21st Century, and an excellent foundation for reading the more nuanced and broader works of GI Wilson, Max Manwaring, Steve Metz, Ralph Peters, and others.

Other seminal works in this area, with reviews:
Uncomfortable Wars Revisited (International and Security Affairs Series)
The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century
Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Militant Muslim Combat Methods
The Tiger's Way: A U.S. Private's Best Chance for Survival
War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare
Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the 21st Century

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Darwinian Perspective on War, July 11, 2005

By	T. R. OConnor "professor" (Clarksville, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

War evolves, rather than transforms, is the central thesis of this book. The author should not be taken to task for over-emphasizing Fourth Generation warfare so much. The way I took it is that the author was rightly proud of his championing certain concepts, so the overemphasis was not excessive. It's a good primer on insurgency and counterinsurgency as well, and even starts to get into the neofunctionalist approach to nation building. Better works can indeed be found, such as Chaplin's in-depth Mao's Legacy and surely on Vietnam, but the book really starts picking up with the chapters on al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Overall, all the case studies in the middle chapters are enlightening. The last five chapters also contain some relatively good ideas for military reform, but the focus is too much on personnel issues, such as 360-degree job evaluations and the ideas in Vandergriff's Revolution in Human Affairs. Although the personnel focus is understandable given the author's brief coverage of CONUS and Homeland Security issues, the strength of this book lies not in the critique of bureaucracy it tries to provide, but in the way the author uses history and a consistent perspective to generate social scientific insights, and in that sense, it is traditional, but also innovative and suggestive in some places.