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Book Review: The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan
Whitney Grespin
Authors: Ahmad Shuja Jamal and William Maley
Reviewed by Dr. Whitney Grespin, visiting research fellow, King's College London, UK Defence Academy; non-resident fellow, Joint Special Operations University; and Africa Regional Program Lead, DSCA/DSCU Institute for Security Governance
Foreign-policy expert Dr. Whitney Grespin reviews a “deservedly cutting reflection on mistakes made and lessons not learned during the Afghanistan War.” She notes the book’s “valuable perspective,” as one of the authors was in Kabul when it fell. Distilling the book’s contents into a detailed, useful overview, Grespin provides a helpful roadmap for readers interested in these topics and concludes the book is “[a] necessary read for practitioners engaged in security assistance.”
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Book Review: The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall
Zachary Griffiths
Author: Eliot A. Cohen
Reviewed by Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Griffiths, special assistant, Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army
Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Griffiths provides an insightful review of Professor Eliot A. Cohen’s book on leadership lessons through the lens of William Shakespeare’s work, a method that “helps readers see common challenges in new ways.” Griffiths describes Cohen’s structural approach to the book—a blend of modern examples with Shakespearean counterparts—and writes that The Hollow Crown’s “effective structure allows chapters to stand on their own while remaining part of a cohesive whole.” Griffiths also notes that “[a] deep appreciation for Shakespeare’s works is not required to enjoy the book,” and that, though the book “occupies an unusual literary space,” it would “rest easily on a bookshelf alongside biographies and excellent leadership texts.”
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Book Review: Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats
John A. Nagl
Authors: Andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker
Reviewed by Dr. John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College
Dr. John A. Nagl overviews Andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker’s contributions with their recent book, Age of Danger, which is “well worth readers’ attention.” Nagl describes Hoehn and Shanker’s emphasis on the importance and relationship between the US intelligence community and the US Department of Defense. His review also focuses on the US relationship with China and Russia, the latter of which is featured as “[t]he acute threat” in what Nagl calls “the book’s best chapter.”
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Book Review: Cold Rivals: The New Era of US-China Strategic Competition
Jeffrey Reeves
Editor: Evan S. Medeiros
Reviewed by Dr. Jeffrey Reeves, associate professor, Naval War College, Naval Postgraduate School
Naval War College associate professor Dr. Jeffrey Reeves provides a thoughtful critique of this anthology on relations between the United States and China. After a brief note on US-Chinese relations during the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations, Reeves offers suggestions for further reading and implies that the book, while providing a “historical account of US-China relations and [chronicling] its evolution,” is not unique in its contributions compared to similar literature, though he does praise two chapters on economics and technology that “stand out.”
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