Military History for the Modern Strategist: America's Major Wars Since 1861 [Hardcover]

The recent conclusion to the war in Afghanistan  Americas longest and one of its most frustrating  serves as a vivid reminder of the unpredictability and tragedy of war.
In this timely book, esteemed military expert Michael OHanlon examines Americas major conflicts since the mid-1800s: the Civil War, the two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. OHanlon addresses profound questions. How successful has the United States been when it waged these wars? Were the wars avoidable? Did Americas leaders know what they were getting into when they committed to war? And what lessons does history offer for future leaders contemplating war?including the prospects for avoiding war in the first place. Certainly, Vladimir Putin should have thought harder about some of these questions before invading Ukraine.
OHanlon looks for overarching trends and themes, along with the lessons for the military strategists and political leaders of today and tomorrow. His main lessons include the observations that war is usually far more difficult than expected, and that its outcomes are rarely predictable.
OHanlons unique book  combining brevity and clarity with a broad conceptual approach is an important for students of security studies at universities and war colleges as well as generalists.

Michael OHanlonholds the Phil Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy at Brookings, where he also is director of research and director of the Talbott Center in the Foreign Policy program. He teaches at Columbia and Georgetown universities and elsewhere. Earlier in his career, OHanlon worked for the Congressional Budget Office, the Peace Corps, the gravity group at Princeton University, and dairy farms in upstate New York. He is the author of some 20 books, most recentlyThe Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint(Yale, 2021).

As anyone who is interested in military history can attest, an early step is finding a suitablló!