Rich in historical detail and theoretical insight, Wars of Revelation explains why the United States' military interventions have repeatedly transformed its global role - and what that means for the future of American grand strategy. More than seventy-five years since the end of World War II, military interventions - rather than major wars - have emerged as a defining feature of contemporary geopolitics. Yet, for all the fierce policy debates over interventions and their lessons, scholars have largely ignored the systematic linkages between these smaller-scale wars and transformations in the grand strategies of states that prosecute them. In Wars of Revelation, Rebecca Lissner explains why military interventions can be crucibles of grand strategy, testing strategic axioms on the battlefield and prompting combatant states to reconceive their global roles. Through detailed historical case studies of US involvement in the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars, Lissner shows how each intervention generated searing insights into the capabilities and intentions of America's international adversaries - as well as the potential and limits of its own national power. By focusing on these three "wars of revelation," Lissner presents a fresh perspective on the origins and evolutions of US grand strategy, from the dawn of the Cold War to its twilight. Persuasively argued and historically illuminating, Wars of Revelation is essential reading for anyone who crafts, studies, or follows international security policy.

About the Author
Rebecca Lissner is an Assistant Professor in the Strategic and Operational Research Department at the US Naval War College and a Non-Resident Scholar at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies.

Reviews
a well-researched and lucidly argued account * Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs *
An ambitious analysis derived from the author's (Lissner) doctoral thesis, this volume is a finely crafted, readable study that aims to revise the historiography of three American 'wars of revelation' (Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War). * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197583197
Author Rebecca Lissner
Format Paperback
Page Count 238
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions(mm) 156mm * 235mm * 16mm