The story behind the ultimate American privatization, which has taken place gradually and almost invisibly: how we privatized our national security--

When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men-military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor-put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that...

"This suspenseful and propulsive account of the days leading up to the end of World War II, is told through the stories of three men: Henry Stimson, the Secretary of War, who had overall responsibility for decisions about the atomic bomb; Gen. Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, head of strategic bombing in Europe and the Pacific, who was in charge of actually dropping the bombs; and Shigenori Tōgō, the Japanese Foreign Minister, who was the only one in Emperor...

Written after 1513's "The Prince," Niccolo Machiavelli's war treatise, "The Art of War", is a dazzling array of war tactics and strategies based on the military strength of the Romans. Machiavelli wrote "The Art of War" as a dialogue between a group of young men in the Florentine republic. The main narrator, Lord Fabrizio Colonna, is the voice of knowledge and wisdom. The others ask questions about military tactics, and Fabrizio gives them advice...

Michael Howard (1922–2019) was a leading British military historian who held professorships at the University of Oxford and Yale University. His many books included The Franco-Prussian War and War in European History. Peter Paret (1924–2020) was professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His many books include Clausewitz in His Time, The Cognitive Challenge of War (Princeton), and Clausewitz and the State (Princeton)....

Tim Kane analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the US armed forces leadership culture and personnel management. He proposes a blueprint for reform that empowers troops as well as local commanders. Kane's proposals extend the All-Volunteer Force reforms of 1973 further along the spectrum of volunteerism, emphasize greater individual agency during all stages of a US military career, and restore diversity among the services. The Leader/Talent Matrix-an...