A detailed and highly authoritative critical commentary appraising the vitally important United States Department of Defense Law of War Manual.

A delightful collection of essays on 14 of the most intriguing figures of the Civil War.

Success in war ultimately depends upon the consolidation of political order. Consolidating the new political order is not separate from war, rather Nadia Schadlow argues that governance operations are an essential component of victory. Despite learning this the hard way in past conflicts from the Mexican War through Iraq and Afghanistan, US policymakers and the military have failed to institutionalize lessons about post-conflict governance and political order for future conflicts. War and the Art of Governance distills lessons from fifteen historical cases of US Army military intervention and governance operations from the Mexican War through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Improving outcomes in the future will require US policymakers and military leaders to accept that the political dimension is indispensable across the full spectrum of war. Plans, timelines, and resources must be shaped to reflect this reality before intervening in a conflict, not after things start to go wrong. The American historical experience suggests that the country's military will be sent abroad again to topple a regime and install a new government. Schadlow provides clear lessons that must be heeded before next time.

War is changing. Unlike when modern military doctrine was forged, the United States no longer mobilizes massive land forces for direct political gain. Instead, the US fights small, overseas wars by global mandate to overthrow dictators, destroy terrorist groups, and broker regional peace. These conflicts hardly resemble the total wars fought and expected by foundational military theorists such as Carl von Clausewitz, yet their paradigms are ingrained in modern thinking. The twenty-first-century's new geopolitical situation demands new principles for warfare—deemphasizing decisive land victory in favor of airpower, intelligence systems, and indigenous ground forces. In Thoughts on War, Phillip S. Meilinger confronts the shortcomings of US military dogma in search of a new strategic doctrine. Inter-service rivalries and conventional theories failed the US in lengthy Korea, Vietnam, and Middle East conflicts. Jettisoning traditional perspectives and their focus on decisive battles, Meilinger revisits historical campaigns looking for answers to more persistent challenges—how to coordinate forces, manipulate time, and fight on two fronts. This provocative collection of new and expanded essays offers a fresh, if controversial, perspective on time-honored military values, one which encourages a critical revision of US military strategy.