-
Book Review: The Making of a Leader: The Formative Years of George C. Marshall
Wylie W. Johnson
Reviewed by Reverend Dr. Wylie W. Johnson, Chaplain (US Army, retired), US Army War College class of 2010
Dr. Wylie Johnson provides a thoughtful review of Rhodes Scholar Josiah Bunting’s new book on the early life and career of General George Marshall. As Johnson notes, there are many books about Marshall, and Johnson highlights the value of Bunting’s book, which contextualizes Marshall’s early career—from experience as a staff officer (rather than leading troops in combat), to having authority in overseas assignments, to recreation. Johnson notes that “Marshall had a different military career than that which is usually lauded today.” He writes that the book is “a well-written introduction to the art of leadership that senior leaders can recommend to rising junior officers.”
-
Review Essay: Exploring Strategy in India
Vinay Kaura
Authors: Rajesh Basrur and Feroz Hassan Khan
Reviewed by Dr. Vinay Kaura, assistant professor, Department of International Affairs and Security Studies, and deputy director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice, Rajasthan, India
Dr. Vinay Kaura reviews two similarly named books that Kaura writes will be “an indispensable reference for South Asian security for years to come.” He praises Rajesh Basrur’s Subcontinental Drift for “incorporating domestic factors to explain Indian’s foreign policy” and provides a helpful overview of Basrur’s three case studies and “policy drift.” Kaura also overviews Feroz Hassan Khan’s book, centered on how India and Pakistan “are shaping the political order in South Asia” and appreciates Khan’s “remarkable objectivity.” Overall, Kaura offers a thoughtful and compelling account of the books, which he writes “significantly outrank others that often deal with great-power South Asian policies rather than with the two nuclear-armed neighbors locked in a hostile relationship and constantly drifting from crisis to crisis.”
-
Book Review: The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century
Thomas W. Spahr
Reviewed by Dr. Thomas W. Spahr, De Serio Chair of Strategic Intelligence and associate professor, US Army War College
Dr. Thomas Spahr presents a compelling review of General Kenneth McKenzie’s The Melting Point, providing an overview of the book’s three main points and its unique scope compared to other generals’ memoirs. Spahr praises McKenzie’s writing on Afghanistan, in particular, calling it “the best [description] I have read of the strategic events that led to that dramatic end.” Spahr presents a compelling case for why the book “should be required reading at senior levels of professional military education.”
-
Book Review: Standing Up Space Force: The Road to the Nation’s Sixth Armed Service
Robert D. Bradford III
Author: Forrest L. Marion
Reviewed by Robert D. Bradford III, associate professor of defense and Joint processes, Department of Command, Leadership, and Management, US Army War College
Robert D. Bradford III reviews this “first history” of the United States Space Force. He overviews the author Forrest L. Marion’s resources (“primary sources and extensive oral history interviews”) and highlights the book’s value in the way it “depicts cultural and bureaucratic barriers to…organizational change.” Bradford notes the history’s universal applicability as it relates to other situations in which an institution successfully approaches change.
Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.
