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Book Review: Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission over the Roof of the World
Heather Venable
Author: Caroline Alexander
Reviewed by Dr. Heather Venable, course director, Airpower Strategy and Operations, Air Command and Staff College
Dr. Heather Venable, course director, Airpower Strategy and Operations, at the Air Command and Staff College, insightfully analyzes multifaceted author and translator Caroline Alexander’s latest history of the China-Burma-India Theater. Venable overviews the book’s four main elements and the two structural topics—the “ ‘Hump’ of the Himalayas” and the land bridge. She praises the author’s “beguiling human and geographical detail” that “brings the CBI Theater to life while casting a critical eye on the human frailties of her research subjects.”
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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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