A sweeping, authoritative look at the workings of warfare.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Rinehartpresents a comprehensive overview of military theory.
In these pages, the author discusses both standard military theory and elaborations on modern modes of engagement and levels of technology, all grouped under the general heading of “Command and Momentum.” He lays out the nine classic principles of war: establish objectives, take the offensive, concentrate one’s firepower and forces, exercise economy of force deployment, maneuver to one’s advantage, establish unity of command, secure intelligence and plans, prepare simple plans and orders without oversimplifying, and use the element of surprise. The latter of which, according to Rinehart, should involve “the honest assessment of our own vulnerabilities to attack (by anything from missiles to toxins to improvised explosive devices to computer viruses).” He adds to these classic principles in his discussion of later expansions, highlighting restraint, perseverance, and legitimacy, which, unlike other principles, involves “various perspectives of interested audiences” outside the military. Along the way, he draws on a wide variety of sources and examples, from ancient Greece and the Old Testament to Operation Desert Storm and beyond. He uses various conceptual aids, including a flowchart he calls the “war tree” (“an interesting but unwieldy tool”) to illustrate his concepts. As in most works on military history or theory, this has a density that can sometimes make for tedious reading: “Therefore, the nine classical principles can combine and recombine into the two postulated elements: applied combat means (or, Momentum) and Command.” But when Rinehart is clear, his observations are sharp, as when he notes that “for most peace-loving peoples, the will to fight is different from the desireto fight.” He’s notably candid about the blurring role that “fog and friction” can have on both the practice and the study of war on the ground, and the enormous range of examples he has at his fingertips serves to illustrate this very effectively. For an audience of military cadets of various kinds, this will be a particularly useful read, but many lay readers will find parts of this book thought-provoking.
A sweeping, authoritative look at the workings of warfare.Pub Date: June 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780998209234
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Stormwatch
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.
Helping liberals get out of their own way.
Klein, a New York Times columnist, and Thompson, an Atlantic staffer, lean to the left, but they aren’t interrogating the usual suspects. Aware that many conservatives have no interest in their opinions, the authors target their own side’s “pathologies.” Why do red states greenlight the kind of renewable energy projects that often languish in blue states? Why does liberal California have the nation’s most severe homelessness and housing affordability crises? One big reason: Liberal leadership has ensnared itself in a web of well-intentioned yet often onerous “goals, standards, and rules.” This “procedural kludge,” partially shaped by lawyers who pioneered a “democracy by lawsuit” strategy in the 1960s, threatens to stymie key breakthroughs. Consider the anti-pollution laws passed after World War II. In the decades since, homeowners’ groups in liberal locales have cited such statutes in lawsuits meant to stop new affordable housing. Today, these laws “block the clean energy projects” required to tackle climate change. Nuclear energy is “inarguably safer” than the fossil fuel variety, but because Washington doesn’t always “properly weigh risk,” it almost never builds new reactors. Meanwhile, technologies that may cure disease or slash the carbon footprint of cement production benefit from government support, but too often the grant process “rewards caution and punishes outsider thinking.” The authors call this style of governing “everything-bagel liberalism,” so named because of its many government mandates. Instead, they envision “a politics of abundance” that would remake travel, work, and health. This won’t happen without “changing the processes that make building and inventing so hard.” It’s time, then, to scrutinize everything from municipal zoning regulations to the paperwork requirements for scientists getting federal funding. The authors’ debut as a duo is very smart and eminently useful.
Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781668023488
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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