The Insurgents David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War [Paperback]

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

The Insurgentstells the inside story of the small group of soldier-scholars, led by Gen. David Petraeus, who plotted to revolutionize the oldest, stodgiest institution in America—the military. Working from secret documents, private emails, and interviews with more than one hundred key characters, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Fred Kaplan details how these men and women forged a community (a “cabal,” some of them called it), manipulated the bureaucracy, and changed official policy.

This is a story of power, politics, ideas, and personalities—and how they converged to reshape twenty-first century warfare. It is also a cautionary tale about how creative doctrine can harden into dogma and how smart strategists—today’s “best and brightest”— can win the battles at home but not the wars abroad. Petraeus and his fellow insurgents made the US military more adaptive to the conflicts of the modern era, but they also created the tools—made it more tempting—for political leaders to wade into wars that they would have been wise to avoid. There is no one better equipped to tell the story. ... Kaplan, a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter … knows the military world inside and out. ... An authoritative, gripping and somewhat terrifying account of how the American military approached two major wars in the combustible Islamic world. Compelling Riveting...essential reading... Kaplan's meticulous account of the ways Petraeus found to bring together and nurture the counterinsurgency 'cabal' might profitably be read by anyone interested in bringing change to a giant bureaucracy. “Serious and insightful. …The Insurgentsseems destined to be one of the more significant looks at how the US pursued the war in Iraq and at the complex mind of the general in charge when the tide turned.” A very readable, thlã%