Stratagem: Deception and Surprise in War (Artech House Information Warfare Library) [Hardcover]

Barton Whaley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1596931981 | ISBN-13: 978-1596931985 | Publication Date: February 2007

Out-of-print and out of the hands of military professionals for years, Artech House answers the demand, making the sought-after, classic work, "Stratagem: Deception and Surprise in War", available once again. This timeless and widely cited volume offers professionals a model and template for studying and analyzing deception operations. Readers get an historical analysis of deception and surprise, over 100 real-world case studies, and a set of methods that underlie and pervade the entire book. This unique resource takes a broad and deep look at surprise operations, presenting intriguing questions and hypotheses about the possible causes of surprise, including deception. Thoroughly referenced and supported with clear data tables, the case studies concentrate on goals, planning, expectations, security, leaks, warnings, intelligence assessments, and final results. The book concludes with analytical lists of battles from 1914 to 1968, systematically laid out in columns for cross-tabulation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barton Whaley is a research professor at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. An internationally renowned scholar and authority on deception and counterdeception, Dr. Whaley has also been associated with M.I.T., The American University, the RAND Corporation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the National Intelligence Council's Foreign Denial & Deception Committee (FDDC). He received his Ph.D. in political science from M.I.T.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 562 pages
• Publisher: Artech House Publishers (February 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596931981
• ISBN-13: 978-1596931985
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have for any military library, February 19, 2007

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stratagem: Deception and Surprise in War (Artech House Information Warfare Library) (Hardcover)

This book is an absolute 'must have' for any military historian (amateur or professional) or any military officers with any interest or responsibility for intelligence or counter-intelligence.

This book is written in the form of two books, and somewhat less obviously, three books.

Book 1 has six chapters of text that discusses the general concepts of deception from a theoretical standpoint and it's value in warfare. He points out the analysis of 27 wars where in only six of these was a decisive result obtained by a direct approach.

Book 2, the biggest part of the book is Appendix A. This consists of 115 known instances of surprise and/or deception from 1914 to 1968 (this book was first written in 1969). To list just two examples:

Case A30 - Details the efforts that the Japanese went to in order to obscure the fact that they were preparing to attack Pearl Harbor. This view puts an entirely different light on the question about what the Americans knew about the pending attack. Suppose the Japanese knew or even suspected that we might have broken their codes.

Case A45 - The deceptions directed at the Germans regarding D-Day. As Churchill said, the facts regarding the invasion were to be protected by 'a bodyguard of lies.' This details the well known aspects such as the appointment of Patton to head up the ficticious army. But it also reports the FBI, back in the US having one of their agents (code named ND98, and still not publicly identified) send signals to the Germans attempting to direct their attention to an attack in the Med.

Conclusion: Buy a copy of this book before it goes out of print again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of breed, March 24, 2007

By 

Skope (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stratagem: Deception and Surprise in War (Artech House Information Warfare Library) (Hardcover)

Barton Whaley is respected as the foremost expert in the field of deception, and his book "Stratagem" is by far the very best single publication on the subject. His work was exhaustively researched and provides the clearest and most detailed explanations of theory, principles, tradecraft and case studies on deception.