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April 8, 2025

Book Review: Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice

Cover for Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and PracticeMilitary History |
 
Author: John A. Nagl
 
Reviewed by Major Brennan Deveraux, national security researcher, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College
 
Today’s force still has plenty to learn about counterinsurgency from Operation Desert Storm. John Nagl’s Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice “a book about counterinsurgency and its journey from the far periphery of US military doctrine to its center, for better and, some would argue, for worse.” The reviewer notes, Nagl’s work “provides a tangible example of the impact junior leaders can have on the service.”
 

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Keywords: counterinsurgency, Persian Gulf War, professional writing, Iraq, Afghanistan