Lawrence D. Freedman

Terrorism & Counterterrorism   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

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Terrorism, Betrayal, and Resilience: My Story of the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings

Bushnell's book is an autobiography and an account of the 1998 attack. 

Lawrence D. Freedman

War & Military Strategy   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

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Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945–1975; Road to Disaster: A New History of America’s Descent Into Vietnam

These two books take on a familiar topic but manage to be original and thought provoking—and very different from each other.

Lawrence D. Freedman

War & Military Strategy   January/February 2019 Capsule Review

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Haig’s Enemy: Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany’s War on the Western Front; The First Soldier: Hitler as Military Leader

Military history tends to be seen through the eyes of the victors, but these two books show the two world wars from the perspective of the defeated Germans.

Lawrence D. Freedman

Cybersecurity   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

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LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Many books have charted the use and misuse of social media, but this is one of the most comprehensive and up to date.

Lawrence D. Freedman

Defense Policy   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

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Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual

Hans Speier was one of the many German intellectuals who left Germany for the United States before World War II and later came to play a major part in the war effort...

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

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The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel

This clever and gripping book, written in the manner of the 9/11 Commission’s report, takes as its starting point the United States’ failure to get North Korea to give...

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

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Wars of Law: Unintended Consequences in the Regulation of Armed Conflict

Ever since World War II, countries have been reluctant to officially declare war on one another, even after they appear to be fighting one. Because a declaration of...

Lawrence D. Freedman

War & Military Strategy   November/December 2018 Capsule Review

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War Isn’t the Only Hell: A New Reading of World War I American Literature

Gandal argues that much of the American literature generated by World War I was about emasculation more than danger. 

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   September/October 2018 Capsule Review

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Recent Books on Nuclear Strategy

Ever since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no nuclear weapons have been used in combat. This limits all efforts to develop theories...

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   September/October 2018 Capsule Review

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On Grand Strategy

This illuminating and erudite book explores the meaning of grand strategy by recounting some of history’s most fateful decisions, many of which were also its most ill...

Lawrence D. Freedman

Strategy & Conflict   May/June 2018 Capsule Review

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The West Point History of the American Revolution

The essays in this authoritative collection illuminate the origins and conduct of the American War of Independence, with a particular focus on the transformation of...

Lawrence D. Freedman

Strategy & Conflict   May/June 2018 Capsule Review

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The Last Battle: Victory, Defeat, and the End of World War I

Hart’s history of the final year of World War I opens just after the major German offensive of 1918 had ground to a halt and as the Allies geared up for their own...

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   May/June 2018 Capsule Review

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Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War

Scharre, a former U.S. Army Ranger, has thought more than most about the implications of autonomous weapons.

Lawrence D. Freedman

War & Military Strategy   May/June 2018 Capsule Review

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The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando

This gripping account of the French resistance to the Nazi occupation is told through the remarkable experiences of Robert de La Rochefoucauld, a Frenchman from an...

Lawrence D. Freedman

War & Military Strategy   May/June 2018 Capsule Review

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The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam

During the mid-1950s, the U.S. Air Force officer Edward Lansdale served as the CIA’s liaison to South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   March/April 2018 Capsule Review

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Withdrawal: Reassessing America’s Final Years in Vietnam

Daddis shows that the narrative of military victory snatched away by Congress and antiwar sentiment misses a vital point.

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   March/April 2018 Capsule Review

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The Virtual Weapon and International Order; Digital World War: Islamists, Extremists, and the Fight for Cyber Supremacy

The debate about how digital communications technology is transforming conflict takes place on a spectrum.

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   March/April 2018 Capsule Review

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The Pentagon’s Wars: The Military’s Undeclared War Against America’s Presidents

The book is an enthralling, gossipy account of the interplay between senior U.S. military and political leaders since the end of the Cold War.

Lawrence D. Freedman

Security   March/April 2018 Capsule Review

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The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner

His experiences have led Ellsberg to argue that however much he might like to see nuclear weapons abolished, the first step in addressing the danger must be to make...

Lawrence D. Freedman

U.S. Foreign Policy   January/February 2018 Capsule Review

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Harold Brown: Offsetting the Soviet Military Challenge, 1977–1981

The Carter administration represented a momentous, if transitional, period in U.S. national security policy, and it remains curiously understudied.

Lawrence D. Freedman