Rumsfeld’s War,

Rumsfeld’s War is a close-up look at one of the most influential figures in the Bush administration, and a key leader in the current war against militant Islamism. The book examines Rumsfeld the man, reviewing his long and varied career at the top levels of government and industry, and analyzes his role in the two principal themes of his tenure, transformation of the Cold War mili- tary and defeat of Middle Eastern terrorism

The Political Influence of Naval Force in History,

Sir James Cable is a noted writer on naval affairs. His Gunboat Diplomacy, 1919–1991 is a well regarded classic on the role of naval force. His latest work is a historical survey of the political purposes for which gov- ernments have made use of naval force. Cable defines “naval force” as that “ex- ercised by fighting ships manned by disciplined sailors at the direction of a central command responsible to the political leadership.” His definition is necessary to distinguish naval force as we understand it today from the force exercised by pirates, privateers, adven- turers, and users of “landing craft” (such as those that brought Roman sol- diers to Britain in 55 A.D.) or galleys, which served merely as conveyances to bring soldiers together for seaborne hand-to-hand combat

Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadershipin Wartime

This is an extraordinarily timely work, published when the United States may be about to conduct large-scale combat operations in the Middle East. It exam- ines the relationship in a democracy be- tween military and political leadership, “or more precisely, . . . the tension be- tween two kinds of leadership, civil and military,” especially in time of war