The Shaping of Grand Strategy: Policy, Diplomacy, and War 1st Edition

by Williamson Murray (Editor), Richard Hart Sinnreich (Editor), James Lacey (Editor)

23 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0521156332

ISBN-10: 0521156335

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Within a variety of historical contexts, The Shaping of Grand Strategy addresses the most important tasks states have confronted: namely, how to protect their citizens against the short-range as well as long-range dangers their polities confront in the present and may confront in the future. To be successful, grand strategy demands that governments and leaders chart a course that involves more than simply reacting to immediate events. Above all, it demands they adapt to sudden and major changes in the international environment, which more often than not involves the outbreak of great conflicts but at times demands recognition of major economic, political, or diplomatic changes. This collection of essays explores the successes as well as failures of great states attempting to create grand strategies that work and aims at achieving an understanding of some of the extraordinary difficulties involved in casting, evolving, and adapting grand strategy to the realities of the world.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Shaping of Grand Strategy is important reading for anyone interested in shaping of wartime policy." -A. A. Nofi, StrategyPage

"Important reading for anyone interested in the shaping of wartime policy." -The NYMAS REVIEW

Book Description

The successes as well as failures of great states attempting to create grand strategies that work.

About the Author

Williamson Murray is Professor Emeritus of History at the Ohio State University. He has also been the Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, a Secretary of the Navy Fellow at the Navy War College, the Horner Professor of Military Theory at Marine Corps University, and the Harold Johnson Professor of Military History at the Army War College. At present he is a defense consultant and commentator on historical and military subjects in Washington, DC. Murray is co-editor of The Making of Peace (with Jim Lacey), The Past as Prologue (with Richard Hart Sinnreich), The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300–2050 (with MacGregor Knox), Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (with Allan R. Millett), and The Making of Strategy (with Alvin Bernstein and MacGregor Knox).

Richard Hart Sinnreich retired from the US Army in 1990. His active service included field artillery commands from battery through division artillery, combat in Vietnam, teaching at West Point and Fort Leavenworth, and assignments on the Army, Joint, and National Security Council staffs, as assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and as the first Army Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He helped establish and subsequently directed the Army's School of Advanced Military Studies, and has published widely in military and foreign affairs. Since retiring from the Army, he has worked as an independent defense consultant for both commercial clients and government agencies, and as the regular defense columnist for Lawton, Oklahoma's Sunday Constitution.

James Lacey has served more than a dozen years on active duty as an infantry officer and is recently retired from the army reserves. He is a widely published analyst and a Professor of Strategy at the Marine War College in Washington, DC, where he has written several studies on the war in Iraq and on the Global War on Terrorism. He also teaches graduate-level courses in military history and global issues at Johns Hopkins University. Lacey was an embedded journalist with Time magazine during the invasion of Iraq, during which he traveled with the 101st Airborne Division. He has written extensively for many other magazines, and his opinion columns have been published in National Review, the Weekly Standard, the New York Post, the New York Sun, Foreign Affairs and many other publications. He is the author of Takedown: the 3rd Infantry Division's 21-Day Assault on Baghdad, which has been hailed as 'a major and successful effort to fill in one of the major blank spots in our knowledge of Operation Iraqi Freedom'; Pershing (2008); and the forthcoming Keep from All Thoughtful Men (2011) and the co-editor of The Making of Peace (2008).

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (February 14, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521156335
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521156332
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.67 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #592,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #405 in Political History (Books)
- #409 in International Relations (Books)
- #437 in Military History (Books)

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The F7 Pawn

The Elusive Nature of Grand Strategy

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018

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I was attracted to this volume by the quality of the scholars and the topics listed in the table of contents. It does not disappoint. An introductory and concluding essay sandwich seven case studies of grand strategy in action. The editors' common contention is that our prevailing definitions and comprehension of grand strategy are strained and, when subjected to rigorous analysis, are found insufficient. The seven case studies in this book support that contention even as the authors agree that the definition and usage need not be completely defenestrated. It is history, culture, and military theory rolled into one. Strategy cannot be considered out of its contexts. The chapters on Bismarck (Jones) and Truman (Gray) are especially refreshing. Although I suspect that this book would appeal to a narrow audience, it is written in an accessible they may appeal to a handful of non-scholars and defense professionals. Recommended with those reservations.

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A. B. Systems

Outstanding (But This Is A Limited Review)

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2013

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Note: This is a limited review because I purchased this book specifically for the interwar and WW II period, and do not comment here on the remainder of the book.

This ensemble book consists of essays by six eminent historians well familiar with their subject matter. My interest at this time is limited to the run up to WW II. The chapter entitled "British Grand Strategy, 1933-1942" by Dr Williamson Murray is simply brilliant.

Dr Murray has a rock-solid grasp of what grand strategy is, and the events, issues and British political leadership behaviors of the late interwar period. Equally important, he writes clear and cogent prose--a gift not many university professors can claim.

I particularly recommend reading this chapter to gain a quick and clear understanding of the brutal consequences of an ideological worldview that is unable to process obvious facts. The dangers of spinning world events to meet your worldview are manifest, and history provides examples aplenty.

Clearly essays of this length cannot possibly cover every aspect of grand strategy during the periods covered. Nonetheless, this book--at least the British Grand Strategy chapter--provides a useful and insightful overview with enough detail to satisfy. If you want to dive deeper, footnotes and references provide a wealth of resources for expanded study.

Dr Murray is professor emeritus of history at Ohio State University and has served as the Harold Johnson Professor of Military History at the US Army War College in Carlyle, PA. I have no connection to Dr Murray whatsoever, except as a reader and student of his writing.

I'm less impressed with the chapter on early WW II American grand strategy development, but I'm sure many will find it useful. Skimming the other chapters suggests their quality and clarity is similar to Dr Murray's chapter, but I have not studied them and cannot comment with assurance.

9 people found this helpful

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Charles C. E. Garrett

it's great source material if you really want to dig in ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2017

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It's well written and informative. The excessive footnotes can bog you down. However, it's great source material if you really want to dig in to the various historical aspects.

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RENE MAURICIO CARDOSO BALTAZAR

A british vision about strategy

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2015

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A lot of bitish vision about strategy.

It resembles a lot of history. The extrapolation of the knowledge and its application depends upon you.

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PAULO J PERES

A set of historical events that exemplify what is grand strategy and how it is applied in practice.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2013

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The editors chose a set of events throughout history to show us how grand strategies are defined and executed. The variety of cases depict motivations, styles of leadership and final outcomes to the results of implementing a grand strategy, showing that it can lead to great redefinitions of the world order or just to feed ambitions of greatness and personal glory.

One person found this helpful

Niccolo Ma

Good history, mediocre grand strategy

Reviewed in Canada on September 13, 2015

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Promising introduction, but subsequent chapters are mostly one dimension and do not connect with the themes set out in the introduction closely. Chapters, when read as individual essays, lack main arguments, and they serve only as a description of a series of historical events. The grand strategy the authors are speaking of, is taken from the sole view of historians, which can be useful in itself, yet the reader is left to wonder what makes a good or bad grand strategy themselves, and so far the authors have not given any answers.

It could be a good history text about high Euro-American politics in the 19th-20th century, but it is lacking as a study about grand strategy.

Alessander

Excelente livro!

Reviewed in Brazil on May 2, 2015

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Livro muito interessante a todos que estudam Estratégia, a Grande Estratégia ou Planejamento Estratégico. As análisis dos casos históricos são muito bem feitas.

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The Shaping of Grand Strategy: Policy, Diplomacy, and War 1st Edition

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