& FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, March 24

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, March 23. Order within 2 hrs 6 mins

Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).

[{"displayPrice":"$29.99","priceAmount":29.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"d1vNWd5ubUdlsawqcLXi58F1BccyQ3xz6x0PbLQCSLzqREjeSdki1N0sc1O3Y1Wu94hMMe3kqd8PXlmq%2BP%2FC5W29e9r%2FdIE9NEKnAvnue%2BU2v9SZr7vEsrzSP7RXdyrNSGIWELku620%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$9.07","priceAmount":9.07,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"07","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"vDsDWxkNvilH0sbAcKPoHnAFKjK7irQCSRpXUuF54%2Fsiojn78ZgOkEwpxxxwYwN8vNsNwzipWQo9XvjkykpfVogIyAWOMDJ%2FqKhvUeGR7%2FurDowSgVHhVVt8%2FxqBy3KTVJdGQdc5GUlGrLPFvkB7TMEiy6Y%2By%2BW1PhlH79kwFF8QblxKknK7ZVVhf48%2BO7fh","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$29.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE delivery March 28 - April 1. Details

Or fastest delivery March 22 - 24. Details

Used: Good | Details

Sold by ThriftBooks-Phoenix

Share

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$29.99
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: sweethomeliquid2

Added

Not added

$34.84
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Book Depository US

Added

Not added

$44.89
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Prime Deals, USA

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Susan L. Marquis

Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operation Forces (Rediscovering Government Series) Paperback – April 1, 1997

by Susan Marquis (Author)

12 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$52.78

$48.99

$10.99

Paperback

"Please retry"

$29.99

$29.98

$5.09

Enhance your purchase

For four decades after World War II, U.S. Special Operations Forces—including Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, Air Force special operations aircrews and Special Tactics Group—suffered from mistrust and inadequate funding from the military services. They were nearly eliminated from the active force following the Vietnam War. But in the past fifteen years, special operations forces have risen from the ashes of the failed 1980 rescue of American hostages in Iran to become one of the most frequently deployed elements of the U.S. military. They are now adequately funded, better-equipped, and well-trained. Special operations forces are often the nation's first military response when faced with a crisis in today's uncertain and unstable international security environment.

What caused this dramatic turnaround? As this book shows, it was a long way from congressional outrage at TV images of burned bodies of U.S. servicemen in the Iranian desert to the establishment of a special operations force of nearly 45,000 active and reserve personnel. The drama of how this happened sheds light on how public policy is made and implemented. It illustrates the complex interaction between internal forces within the special operations community, as well as between the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. The implementation of legislation establishing a special operations capability is seen to rebuild and protect these forces to an extent never imagined by the early "quiet professionals."

While offering insights into how the U.S. government makes policy, Susan Marquis also offers a revealing look at the special operations community, including their storied past, extreme training, and recent operational experience that continues to forge their distinctive organizational mission and culture. She describes the decade-long struggle to rebuild special operations forces, resulting in new SOF organizations with independence that is unique among U.S. military forces, an independence approaching that of a new military service.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Brookings Institution Press
Publication date

April 1, 1997
Dimensions

6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0815754752
ISBN-13

978-0815754756
See all details

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Susan Marquis Paperback
$29.99
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping
by Herbert Kaufman Paperback
$41.93
Only 13 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by ayvax and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
FREE Shipping
by Daniel P. Carpenter Paperback
$34.92
Only 17 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping

Daniel P. Carpenter
12
Paperback
29 offers from $22.11
Herbert Kaufman
17
Paperback
20 offers from $30.20
Edward M. Coffman
22
Hardcover
65 offers from $3.80
Fred Kaplan
432
Paperback
60 offers from $2.46
Frank R. Baumgartner
4
Paperback
19 offers from $24.21
Thomas K. Adams
1
Paperback
18 offers from $4.55

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This remarkable case study, based on personal interviews, congressional records, and other official documents, shows how defense policy is made and how difficult it can be to implement. The primary focus is the decade-long effort to reform the U.S. special operations forces community. After a long struggle "of dramatic highs and lows," this process culminated in legislation creating the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in 1987. Marquis, a Defense Department employee who first wrote this as a Ph.D. dissertation at Princeton, covers the catastrophic rescue mission in Iran in 1980, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, and Iraq. There are some graphic but brief combat scenes. This amazing story deserves our attention as much as any war.?John J. Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

This is a splendid history of U.S. Special Operations Forces, based on thorough research in primary sources and written with a firm hand.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brookings Institution Press (April 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0815754752
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0815754756
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,482,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,374 in History of Technology
- #2,917 in National & International Security (Books)
- #9,525 in U.S. Political Science

Customer Reviews:
12 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		61%
4 star		23%
3 star		17%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

James D. ODell

Factual Errors Foul SPECWAR History

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2009

Verified Purchase

Whenever a scholarly researcher attempts indepth treatment of a complex subject, spanning decades of developments, it is critical to get the facts straight. This effort tosses some surprising curve balls with respect to events in World War II. A Scout and Raider team blasted the boom and net across the Sebou in November 1942? Hardly. The facts are covered in a number of excellent sources. Phil Bucklew was in charge of the program? Gracious! Where does this astounding misinformation come from? In Operation Torch, the scout boats stood off the designated landing beaches to mark the location, at night, guided by silhouettes of coastal features. Personnel did not physically lead troops ashore, as the author appears to suggest. Not even British Special Boat operators, who were more experienced in stealth recon, were allowed to go ashore in advance of the landing on the Mediterranean side. Moreover, the mission of the American scout boats was not reconnaissance in that operation.

Phil Bucklew was a lowly Navy trainee in the early period; specifically, a boat handler. He had nothing whatsoever to do with establishing the Ft. Pierce ATB program. Again, the facts concerning his remarkable, and controversial, military career are not difficult to access. Thus, it is hard to fathom how the author missed them.

This may seem a small thing to writers concerned mainly with the history of more recent developments in special warfare. To the cadre dedicated to delivering the truth about events in World War II, a fascinating time of programmatic struggle in special operations, it's discouraging to see an otherwise commendable researcher get it so wrong.

Jim O'Dell

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mike R. Vining, SGM USA (Retired)

An Inside Perspective Of SOF

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2009

"Unconventional Warfare - Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces" is an incredibly well-researched wealth of information on Special Operations origins. The book tells about the buildup of Special Operations Forces during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War and their decline following the end of those events. Most of the book relates how following Vietnam, Special Operations was rebuilt with immense military resistance, but with political support. The book describes the effects and aftermath of each event, such as the Iranian Hostage Rescue attempt, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia, and Haiti, and how it affected the growth of Special Operations. I spent 20 years in Special Operations, from 1978 to 1999, and I learned more about the big picture through this book than through my 20 years as a Special Operations operator. I highly recommend this book, which was published in 1997, and would like to see a similar book that tells the story from Haiti to the present.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

TE

Pretty good, but...

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 1998

The author did a thorough job of research and documentation, except in one area...Special Tactics. She nearly completely overlooked this SOF force. Additionally, she was completely off track when she stated "the primary mission of pararescue is emergency medical treatment". The primary mission of pararescue is PERSONNEL RECOVERY! Our job is combat and peacetime rescue...we are rescue technicians and specialize in TRAUMA medical treatment. We are not "medics". This is stated in numerous doctrine documents (both Air Force and Joint Doctrine)...how or why this happened is beyond me. ST is a continually overlooked force (both by design and circumstance) but to have this statement included in a book like this (dedicated to SOF) is unforgiveable...a serious lack of research in this area, and a serious hole in the literature. Overall the book was well written and right on target in so far as the "overall" SOF picture, but to nearly exclude ST is at best, unfortunate, and at worst, brings her other ideas and conclusions into question. Special Tactics Group is not even our designation...that is our "functional" headquarters...we are Special Tactics Squadrons.

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Unconventional Warfare

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2001

I was involved in the Iran hostage rescue attempt in 1980 and retired in 1982. I attended a reunion at Fort Bragg some years later and was shocked to see the growth in size and prestige of the SOF community. One of my former mates had just been promoted to 4-star and appointed CINCUSSOCOM.
Until I read this book I didn't understand how we got from Desert One to having our own CINC. This is a great effort by Ms. Marquis, meticulously researched and footnoted. Anyone interested in the evolution and the future of Special Operations Forces must read this book! Hats off to the author!

17 people found this helpful

Helpful

AJ Penn

Well done! This book will appeal to those interested ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2017

Well done! This book will appeal to those interested in the SF and what policy role they ought to play in military planning.

Helpful