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Book Review: Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South
James "Andy" Nichols
Author: Elizabeth R. Varon
Reviewed by Lieutenant Colonel James “Andy” Nichols, US Army War College class of 2024
Lieutenant Colonel James “Andy” Nichols reviews Elizabeth R. Varon’s biography of James Longstreet, which Nichols calls “an engaging, well-researched account of [the general’s] journey through disunion, reconstruction, and reconciliation.” He writes that Varon “lifts Longstreet out of the Lost Cause mythology and, through careful archival work, enables readers understand a man who experienced personal and professional transformation and sought redemption.”
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Book Review: How the Army Made Britain a Global Power: 1688–1815
James D. Scudieri
Author: Jeremy Black
Reviewed by Dr. James D. Scudieri, senior research historian, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College
Senior research historian Dr. James D. Scudieri provides a detailed outline of Jeremy Black’s history of the British Army from 1688 to 1815, highlighting the author’s “theme that the British Army made the empire as much as the Royal Navy—through projecting Landpower.” Scudieri also notes the book’s value to American readers, writing, “American security professionals will see parallel insights from this small regular army within a parliamentary system” and that the “US Army’s evolution in a republic that centers the military establishment in Congress, including wartime expansion and peacetime reductions, developed from this British basis.”
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Book Review: Deterrence in the 21st Century: Statecraft in the Information Age
Timothy L. Thomas
Authors: Eric Ouellet, Madeleine D’Agata, and Keith Stewart
Reviewed by Lieutenant Colonel Timothy L. Thomas (US Army, retired), analyst and Parameters editorial board member
Analyst Timothy L. Thomas provides a useful overview of “well-documented and thought-provoking compilation of Canadian perspectives on the interaction of modern-day deterrence postures affected by disinformation threats.” Thomas notes that “the book offers many new concepts for senior defense community experts to consider regarding deterrence and disinformation concepts and an expansive bibliography.” He also highlights the book’s treatment of China, Russia, and Hamas and writes that “[t]he numerous deterrence types . . . indicate that classical deterrence alone is inadequate to dissuade an opponent’s attacks in today’s situational and technical context.”
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Book Review: A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force
John C. Erickson and Timothy S. Martin
Authors: John A. Nagl and Katie Crombe
Reviewed by John C. Erickson, senior engineer, Axiom Technologies, and Lieutenant Colonel Timothy S. Martin, director, Defense Strategy Course, US Army War College
John C. Erickson and Timothy S. Martin review one of the US Army War College Press’s most-downloaded publications, A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force, an integrated research project that covers the first year of the Russia-Ukraine War. Erickson and Martin provide a useful overview and analysis, highlighting 10 key themes, with a special focus on the “Clausewitzian triad” and “mission command,” and explaining why members across the “national security enterprise” can benefit from reading the book.
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