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skitch41's review
5.0
In my experience, anthologies are always a sort of coin toss with essays being either very good or very bad, due to the fact that it's a collection of different authors with different ideas and different styles. It's rare to find one where all the essays are great and interesting reads, but this book is one of those. A collection of essays on military history, strategy, and strategies starting with Machiavelli in the 16th century all the way to the end of the Cold War. Every major military leader and thinker in Western history during this time period is there and topics are varied enough so that it is not always Army tactics that are covered. It also includes essays on the Navy and Air power that are fascinating. It even includes a chapter on modern revolutionary wars, or insurgencies as we would call them today, that is not to be missed. And, I have to say, there wasn't one essay that I felt was superfluous or boring., an achievement for an anthology of this size. The only thing that I would say is that, since this was most recently updated in 1986, it does need to add a few new chapters on robotics and cyberwarfare. In spite of its age and length, this was a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the development of modern, Western military strategy over the centuries.
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