Synopsis
Uses an abundant variety of historical examples to examine the true nature of strategy and demonstrates the failure of commonsense logic in particular strategic concepts
Review
A tour de force, brilliant... Luttwak has tried to demystify matters military, renouncing its jargon and macho banalities, and making it accessible to anyone willing to read--and to think. -- Leonard Bushkoff "Christian Science Monitor" If Edward Luttwak does not always persuade, he always provokes. In this superb book, one that will become a classic of strategy, he does both...His definitions of five levels of strategy are enriching and his historical examples fascinating. -- Gregory F. Treverton "Foreign Affairs" Luttwak's...purpose is to make us think about what to all too many Americans has become the unthinkable. And here he has succeeded magnificently. For peacemakers and warmakers alike, "Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace" is essential reading. -- Harry G. Summers, Jr. "New York Times Book Review" A tour de force, brilliant...[Luttwak] has tried to demystify matters military, renouncing its jargon and macho banalities, and making it accessible to anyone willing to read--and to think. -- Leonard Bushkoff "Christian Science Monitor" Fascinating...Luttwak succeeds admirably in revealing the complex and invariably contradictory relationship between the various levels of strategic action; our grasp of the "process" of conflict is correspondingly enhanced and the reader left properly skeptical about claims that his or that technical innovation will provide an ultimate and foolproof defense. Luttwak's achievement is therefore considerable: Like his mentor Clausewitz he has recognized that the study of war cannot be subject to the 'intellectual codification used in the [mechanical] arts and sciences.' Rather, it requires philosophical rigour and historical understanding of a kind rarely found in the narrow, ahistorical world of the scenario builder. These intellectual virtues are abundantly present in this book, and teacher and student alike can only benefit from a close reading and assessment of its central hypothesis. -- J. E. Spence "Times Higher Education Supplement" "Luttwak's...purpose is to make us think about what to all too many Americans has become the unthinkable. And here he has succeeded magnificently. For peacemakers and warmakers alike, "Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace" is essential reading." --Harry G. Summers, Jr., "New York Times Book Review""Fascinating...Luttwak succeeds admirably in revealing the complex and invariably contradictory relationship between the various levels of strategic action; our grasp of the "process" of conflict is correspondingly enhanced and the reader left properly skeptical about claims that his or that technical innovation will provide an ultimate and foolproof defense. Luttwak's achievement is therefore considerable: Like his mentor Clausewitz he has recognized that the study of war cannot be subject to the 'intellectual codification used in the [mechanical] arts and sciences.' Rather, it requires philosophical rigour and historical understanding of a kind rarely found in the narrow, ahistorical world of the scenario builder. These intellectual virtues are abundantly present in this book, and teacher and student alike can only benefit from a close reading and assessment of its central hypothesis." --J. E. Spence, "Times Higher Education Supplement""If Edward Luttwak does not always persuade, he always provokes. In this superb book, one that will become a classic of strategy, he does both...His definitions of five levels of strategy are enriching and his historical examples fascinating." --Gregory F. Treverton, "Foreign Affairs""A tour de force, brilliant...[Luttwak] has tried to demystify matters military, renouncing its jargon and macho banalities, and making it accessible to anyone willing toread--and to think." --Leonard Bushkoff, "Christian Science Monitor""Knowledgeable, historically informed, acid, blunt. Like or dislike Luttwak's merciless style, agree or disagree with his uninhibited judgments, his book is an immense contribution to the understanding of strategy--the interplay of adversaries that threaten or use force to resolve their conflicts." --Thomas C. Schelling, Harvard University
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