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Book Review: The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America’s Most Famous Hispanic War Hero
Wylie W. Johnson
Author: William Sturkey
Reviewed by Dr. Wylie W. Johnson, chaplain, colonel (US Army, retired), US Army War College Class of 2010
Dr. Wylie W. Johnson presents a review of a recent publication on one of the most celebrated Hispanic war heroes in US history—Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez. Johnson overviews author William Sturkey’s biography of Benavidez, which discusses Benavidez’s “perseverance against racial prejudice, poverty, substandard education, bureaucratic inertia, popular bias against patriotism, anti-military sentiment, and physical disabilities” and also his heroism in the Vietnam War and his lifetime of service afterward. Johnson recommends the book as “military leaders need to be reminded about our heroes and honor the examples they set.”
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Book Review: Putin’s War on Ukraine: Russia’s Campaign for Global Counter-Revolution
Lionel M. Beehner
Author: Samuel Ramani
Reviewed by Dr. Lionel M. Beehner, senior Russia analyst, Foreign Military Studies Office, and senior editorial director, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
Senior Russia analyst Dr. Lionel M. Beehner provides thoughtful praise and critiques on Samuel Ramani’s 2023 book, Putin’s War on Ukraine, calling it “a must-read for diplomats and defense experts.” According to Beehner, Ramani provides “a front-row seat to the war,” helpfully “recalls incidents that may be buried in readers’ minds,” and “masterfully shows the chaos within Russian leadership circles near the invasion.” Beehner also distills and explains Ramani’s main point—that the reason behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “not fear of NATO encirclement but of regime change and popular revolution from within” (or “counter-revolution”).
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Book Review: The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age
John C. Erickson and John A. Nagl
Editor: Hal Brands
Reviewed by John C. Erickson, senior engineer, Axiom Technologies, and John A. Nagl, professor of war-fighting studies, US Army War College
John Erickson and John Nagl provide a useful overview of the latest (third) edition of Princeton University Press’s anthologies on modern strategy, directing readers to the most salient chapters of the book and giving insight into why “this third edition is the most interesting yet” and “are of immeasurable importance for students, practitioners, and scholars alike.” Erickson and Nagl write that “[the] essays provide excellent starting points for research on almost any topic relevant to practitioners, and many of them will endure as the best summaries of thinking on their respective subjects until the next edition is published.”
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Book Review: War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World
John C. Erickson and John A. Nagl
Editor: Hal Brands
Reviewed by John C. Erickson, senior engineer, Axiom Technologies, and Dr. John A. Nagl, professor of war-fighting studies, US Army War College
John Erickson and John Nagl review Hal Brands’s 2024 anthology on the Russia-Ukraine War, including a thorough and helpful overview of the parts and chapters. They supplement the review with a contextualization of the war and its significance for the rest of the world. They call Brands’s book, “a scholarly appraisal of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that may mark the first blows of World War III.”
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