Description
The most successful film franchise of all time, Star Wars thrillingly depicts an epic multigenerational conflict fought a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But the Star Wars saga has as much to say about successful strategies and real-life warfare waged in our own time and place. Strategy Strikes Back brings together over thirty of today's top military and strategic experts, including generals, policy advisors, seasoned diplomats, counterinsurgency strategists, science fiction writers, war journalists, and ground-level military officers, to explain the strategy and the art of war by way of the Star Wars films.
Each chapter of Strategy Strikes Back provides a relatable, outside-the-box way to simplify and clarify the complexities of modern military conflict. A chapter on the case for planet building on the forest moon of Endor by World War Z author Max Brooks offers a unique way to understand our own sustained engagement in war-ravaged societies such as Afghanistan. Another chapter on the counterinsurgency waged by Darth Vader against the Rebellion sheds light on the logic behind past military incursions in Iraq. Whether using the destruction of Alderaan as a means to explore the political implications of targeting civilians, examining the pivotal decisions made by Yoda and the Jedi Council to differentiate strategic leadership in theory and in practice, or considering the ruthlessness of Imperial leaders to explain the toxicity of top-down leadership in times of war and battle, Strategy Strikes Back gives fans of Star Wars and aspiring military minds alike an inspiring and entertaining means of understanding many facets of modern warfare. It is a book as captivating and enthralling as Star Wars itself.
About the Author
Max Brooks is a writer, public speaker, nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and senior resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Art of Future Warfare project. He is the author of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and The Harlem Hellfighters, among other works. John Amble is the editorial director of the Modern War Institute. A military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, he is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. ML Cavanaugh is a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute and a U.S. Army strategist with global experience and assignments ranging from the Pentagon to Korea and Iraq to Army Space and Missile Defense Command. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, among other publications. Jaym Gates is a science fiction editor and author, with more than a dozen anthologies to her credit. She is the coeditor of War Stories: New Military Science Fiction. Stanley McChrystal is a U.S. Army general (ret.) who led the Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq during the Persian Gulf wars and was top commander of American forces in Afghanistan.
Reviews
"Illuminating."-Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs
"Over the course of history, our single greatest vulnerability has been a failure of imagination. Strategy Strikes Back confronts that vulnerability. The future may not evolve precisely as these authors suggest, but evolve it will. As it does, we will discover that some of tomorrow's challenges will prove to be timeless, and others surprisingly new. Learning to imagine now will be time well spent."-Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"This assortment of imaginative and fun analyses is an absolute essential for any military theorist, strategist, critic, and lover of the Star Wars saga that to this day, continues to inspire, expand, and hold a profound sway in our imaginations."-Christopher S. Poppleton, Aviation Digest
"Star Wars is just as much a foundational mythology of our time as The Iliad was a long time ago. Strategy Strikes Back ingeniously uses that world far, far away to help readers take a look at our wars here today."-P. W. Singer, best-selling author of Wired for War and coauthor of Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War
"You might be forgiven for thinking the never-ending Star Wars franchise was simply a cash cow built of sequels, spin-offs and toys. But the space saga is actually helping further the discussion about military strategy right here on Earth."-Chad Jones, San Francisco Chronicle
"Anyone with a basic knowledge of the Star Wars universe is sure to enjoy the creative parallels used by these esteemed authors to simplify complex topics. Avid fans with deep knowledge of this universe cannot help but embrace these parallels, think through them more deeply, and dig even deeper into them as they try to support or argue against the authors while also showing off their superior knowledge of their favorite series of movies."-Steve Luczynski, Strategy Bridge
"Strategy Strikes Back succeeds . . . in illuminating the parallels between war-fighting in speculative fiction and the real world. It opens strategic thinking to non-expert audiences, and prompts experts to reason creatively about the role of force-and indeed the Force-in establishing and maintaining political order."-Stephen Dyson, H-Diplo
"Strategy Strikes Back highlights what good science fiction and serious reflection on pop culture can do: bring the (strategic) dilemmas of the current age into stark relief."-Erin Simpson, War on the Rocks
"This may be the most innovative and interesting book on military strategy ever published. . . . This volume takes a completely different approach to explaining both the eternal nature and modern intricacies of strategy, politics, and conflict by using the popular Star Wars movies as a common frame of reference for discussing the many issues and challenges modern practitioners of the strategic arts face."-Jerry Lenaburg, New York Journal of Books
Book Information
ISBN 9781640123601
Author Max Brooks
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Potomac Books Inc
Publisher Potomac Books Inc
Each chapter of Strategy Strikes Back provides a relatable, outside-the-box way to simplify and clarify the complexities of modern military conflict. A chapter on the case for planet building on the forest moon of Endor by World War Z author Max Brooks offers a unique way to understand our own sustained engagement in war-ravaged societies such as Afghanistan. Another chapter on the counterinsurgency waged by Darth Vader against the Rebellion sheds light on the logic behind past military incursions in Iraq. Whether using the destruction of Alderaan as a means to explore the political implications of targeting civilians, examining the pivotal decisions made by Yoda and the Jedi Council to differentiate strategic leadership in theory and in practice, or considering the ruthlessness of Imperial leaders to explain the toxicity of top-down leadership in times of war and battle, Strategy Strikes Back gives fans of Star Wars and aspiring military minds alike an inspiring and entertaining means of understanding many facets of modern warfare. It is a book as captivating and enthralling as Star Wars itself.
About the Author
Max Brooks is a writer, public speaker, nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and senior resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Art of Future Warfare project. He is the author of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and The Harlem Hellfighters, among other works. John Amble is the editorial director of the Modern War Institute. A military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, he is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. ML Cavanaugh is a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute and a U.S. Army strategist with global experience and assignments ranging from the Pentagon to Korea and Iraq to Army Space and Missile Defense Command. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, among other publications. Jaym Gates is a science fiction editor and author, with more than a dozen anthologies to her credit. She is the coeditor of War Stories: New Military Science Fiction. Stanley McChrystal is a U.S. Army general (ret.) who led the Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq during the Persian Gulf wars and was top commander of American forces in Afghanistan.
Reviews
"Illuminating."-Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs
"Over the course of history, our single greatest vulnerability has been a failure of imagination. Strategy Strikes Back confronts that vulnerability. The future may not evolve precisely as these authors suggest, but evolve it will. As it does, we will discover that some of tomorrow's challenges will prove to be timeless, and others surprisingly new. Learning to imagine now will be time well spent."-Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"This assortment of imaginative and fun analyses is an absolute essential for any military theorist, strategist, critic, and lover of the Star Wars saga that to this day, continues to inspire, expand, and hold a profound sway in our imaginations."-Christopher S. Poppleton, Aviation Digest
"Star Wars is just as much a foundational mythology of our time as The Iliad was a long time ago. Strategy Strikes Back ingeniously uses that world far, far away to help readers take a look at our wars here today."-P. W. Singer, best-selling author of Wired for War and coauthor of Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War
"You might be forgiven for thinking the never-ending Star Wars franchise was simply a cash cow built of sequels, spin-offs and toys. But the space saga is actually helping further the discussion about military strategy right here on Earth."-Chad Jones, San Francisco Chronicle
"Anyone with a basic knowledge of the Star Wars universe is sure to enjoy the creative parallels used by these esteemed authors to simplify complex topics. Avid fans with deep knowledge of this universe cannot help but embrace these parallels, think through them more deeply, and dig even deeper into them as they try to support or argue against the authors while also showing off their superior knowledge of their favorite series of movies."-Steve Luczynski, Strategy Bridge
"Strategy Strikes Back succeeds . . . in illuminating the parallels between war-fighting in speculative fiction and the real world. It opens strategic thinking to non-expert audiences, and prompts experts to reason creatively about the role of force-and indeed the Force-in establishing and maintaining political order."-Stephen Dyson, H-Diplo
"Strategy Strikes Back highlights what good science fiction and serious reflection on pop culture can do: bring the (strategic) dilemmas of the current age into stark relief."-Erin Simpson, War on the Rocks
"This may be the most innovative and interesting book on military strategy ever published. . . . This volume takes a completely different approach to explaining both the eternal nature and modern intricacies of strategy, politics, and conflict by using the popular Star Wars movies as a common frame of reference for discussing the many issues and challenges modern practitioners of the strategic arts face."-Jerry Lenaburg, New York Journal of Books
Book Information
ISBN 9781640123601
Author Max Brooks
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Potomac Books Inc
Publisher Potomac Books Inc
