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The Right Way to Lose a War: America in an Age of Unwinnable Conflicts Hardcover – June 2, 2015

by Dominic Tierney (Author)

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Why has America stopped winning wars?

For nearly a century, up until the end of World War II in 1945, America enjoyed a Golden Age of decisive military triumphs. And then suddenly, we stopped winning wars. The decades since have been a Dark Age of failures and stalemates-in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan-exposing our inability to change course after battlefield setbacks.

In this provocative book, award-winning scholar Dominic Tierney reveals how the United States has struggled to adapt to the new era of intractable guerrilla conflicts. As a result, most major American wars have turned into military fiascos. And when battlefield disaster strikes, Washington is unable to disengage from the quagmire, with grave consequences for thousands of U.S. troops and our allies.

But there is a better way. Drawing on interviews with dozens of top generals and policymakers, Tierney shows how we can use three key steps-surge, talk, and leave-to stem the tide of losses and withdraw from unsuccessful campaigns without compromising our core values and interests.

Weaving together compelling stories of military catastrophe and heroism, this is an unprecedented, timely, and essential guidebook for our new era of unwinnable conflicts. The Right Way to Lose a War illuminates not only how Washington can handle the toughest crisis of all-battlefield failure-but also how America can once again return to the path of victory.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tierney covers his subject with admirable thoroughness....He sagely rejects the notion that the U.S. should sit out of all messy wars simply because it finds them unpleasant."
―Mark Moyar, Wall Street Journal

"Brave and interesting."―Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs

"It's a provocative book. It's an important book."―MSNBC

"Tierney explains the gap between America and its recent enemies with startling (and refreshing) clarity."―David French, National Review

"Eminently readable.... Well-reasoned, highly accessible, and potentially provocative.... The results-oriented perspective is a refreshing take.... Tierney's work will surely find great interest from readers of popular military history and strategy and from academic readers with an interest in foreign policy."―Library Journal

"Tierney proposes a strategy centered on the tactic of "surge, talk, and leave," which requires a seismic shift in understanding the metrics of waging war.... Tierney's sensible and clearsighted recommendations come from careful study."
―Publishers Weekly

"Tierney doesn't just analyze, although there are plenty of examples drawn from ancient and modern history. Instead, he offers a cogent argument and concrete strategies for minimizing loss of life.... His useful book's coda offers some interesting long-term strategies to avoid endless war in the future."―Kirkus

About the Author

Dominic Tierney is an associate professor of political science at Swarthmore College and holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Oxford University. He is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a former visiting associate professor at Princeton University, a former research fellow at Harvard University, and the author of three books, including How We Fight and Failing to Win, which won the International Studies Association "Best Book of the Year" Award and was nominated for its "Best Book of the Decade" Award.

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 2, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316254886
ISBN-13: 978-0316254885
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 20 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,373,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #705 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States > Legislative Branch
- #2381 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States > Executive Branch
- #2412 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > United States > National

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Tom Durkin

Very important ideas

September 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

Tierney makes a strong argument here, and backs it up with data and (crucially) the narratives to make sense of the last 15 years. Those arguing that "if we knew then what we knew then" will recognize how important Tierney's clear forceful analysis really is.

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Michael E. Murray MD

The End of Folly?

September 10, 2015

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Dominic Tierney clearly defines the military history of the United States in the seventy years following World War ll as a series of failures. He notes that we have fought five major wars in this period. Raids, like Grenada and Panama, do not count because they were not wars. He defines a war as a conflict with at least 50,000 combatants and 1000 casualties on both sides. Of our five wars the only victory was the First Gulf War in 1991. He lists Korea and Afghanistan as draws and Vietnam and the Second Gulf War as losses. This dismal record should have taught us our limitations in fighting irregular forces. Much of the nation remains obstinately immune to these facts. The latter, prescriptive part of the book, recommending a sort of dialectic of surge, bargain and withdrawal in future conflicts is poorly thought out and might best be left unread, though its very incoherence does point to the probability that there is no way out of the dilemma.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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Donald C. Evans

Too Reliant on Hindsight

July 13, 2015

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While well written, the author appears predisposed that wars against non-state adversaries are unwinnable. Missing from this book is a formula to determine when a war is a "fiasco" and thus a candidate for his "surge, talk, leave" formula. To use a sports analogy, the U.S. would seemingly capitulate every match where it fell behind in the first half.glad we haven't had that mentality.

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Phillip Issacs

Essential reading

July 23, 2015

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A smart analysis of war just isn't what it used to be and how the US should adjust its strategies to adapt to that fact. Very well written and highly readable.

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Judith Ermilio

Five Stars

July 19, 2016

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An excellent read!

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Gary R. Edwards

Hit's on some good points.

April 19, 2016

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An interesting point of view. Hit's on some good points.

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Amazon Customer

Good Insight

May 24, 2017

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I enjoyed this one and this given my military background.

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Peter5

Makes no sense to me,

December 26, 2016

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Makes no sense to me, How about not starting the war in the first place for a novel concept

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