Recent Publications

Book Review: Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice
April 8, 2025 — 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.”... MORE

Cover for Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice

Book Review: Unwinnable Wars: Afghanistan and the Future of American Armed Statebuilding
September 25, 2024 — Dr. Erik Goepner reviews analyst Adam Wunische’s Unwinnable Wars, which, according to Gopener, offers a “timeless reminder—American power has limits.” Goepner provides a helpful outline of Wunische’s four “major preexisting conditions that severely limit the success of armed state-building efforts.” Wunische argues that preexisting conditions are “beyond the control of the intervening power” and “often foreordain the failure of such missions”... MORE

Cover of Unwinnable Wars: Afghanistan and the Future of American Armed Statebuilding

Technology and Warfare
September 17, 2024 — In this episode, COL Thomas Spahr and Zach Kallenborn discuss technology and warfare and what practitioners and leaders can learn from America’s past wars and the Russia-Ukraine War. ... MORE

“Raven Sentry: Employing AI for Indications and Warnings in Afghanistan”
July 30, 2024 — US Army Colonel Thomas W. Spahr discusses the development and implementation of the AI model, Raven Sentry, to predict attacks on Afghan centers using unclassified data sources. He highlights the need for innovative solutions in Afghanistan as coalition presence waned. The success of Raven Sentry emphasizes the importance of leadership, collaboration with the commercial sector, and utilizing... MORE

Parameters | Summer 2024
May 29, 2024 — The Summer issue is out! In this edition: "What American Policymakers Misunderstand about the Belt and Road Initiative" by Zenel Garcia and Phillip Guerreiro; A Major's Perspective “Professional Discourse Is Shaping the Force”; Civil-Military Relations Corner, "Introduction to the US Army War College Civil-Military Relations Center"; "Exploring the Nexus of Military and Society at a 50-Year Milestone" by Patricia M. Shields;... MORE

Book Review: Armies in Retreat: Chaos, Cohesion, and Consequences
May 20, 2024 — Military History | Editors: Timothy G. Heck and Walker D. Mills | Reviewed by Dr. J.P. Clark, associate professor of strategy, Basic Strategic Art Program, US Army War College | Dr. J.P. Clark provides a thoughtful analysis of this anthology on retreat, an "under-studied topic in the US military." The book covers case studies spanning from the... MORE

Cover for Armies in Retreat: Chaos, Cohesion and Consequences

Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine
March 27, 2024 — Strategy | Book Review: Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to UkraineAuthors: David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts | Reviewed by Dr. John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College | Dr. John A. Nagl provides readers a roadmap to navigate—and a lens with which to interpret—General David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts's... MORE

Dr. John A. Nagl provides readers a roadmap to navigate—and a lens with which to interpret—General David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts's best-selling book, Conflict, which Nagl considers "'[t]he closest thing to a memoir" of Petraeus and "likely . . . the best first-person account in history of [Petraeus's] efforts and results in Iraq and Afghanistan that made him the most important Army officer of his generation."

The Good Captain: A Personal Memoir of America at War
July 21, 2023 — Strategic Leadership Book Review: The Good Captain: A Personal Memoir of America at War Author: R. D. Hooker Jr. | Reviewed by Joseph J. Collins, PhD, retired US Army colonel | Retired Army colonel Rich Hooker’s The Good Captain is a memoir spanning the Cold War through the Global War on Terror. Hooker’s deployments take up the bulk of the book... MORE

Review and Reply: On “Why America’s Army Can’t Win America’s Wars”
March 13, 2023 — Since achieving victory in World War II, the United States military has a less than enviable combat record in irregular warfare. This exchange provides differing perspectives on where past decisions and doctrines have led to defeat and where they may have succeeded if given more time or executed differently. This episode responds to John A. Nagl’s article, “Why America’s Army Can’t Win America’s Wars,” published in the Autumn 2022 issue of Parameters (vol. 52, no. 3). ... MORE

Parameters | Spring 2023
March 3, 2023 — The US Army War College has published The US Army War College Quarterly – Parameters, a refereed journal for contributions concerning contemporary strategy and Landpower, since 1971. Parameters is a product line of the US Army War College Press, which publishes and disseminates research and analysis for Army leaders and other defense experts in multiple forms... MORE

“Afghanistan: The Logic of Failing Fast and Slow”
February 19, 2023 — In the fifth installment of the SRAD Director’s Corner, “Afghanistan: The Logic of Failing, Fast and Slow,” George Shatzer focuses on the failure of the US-led war and reconstruction campaign in Afghanistan. He reviews The Forty-year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold by Tariq Ali and The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan by Elliot Ackerman. He brings personal experience to bear in his review, painting a picture of why the United States failed in Afghanistan and posing these failures as lessons that must be learned before the next war. The books also provide insights for strategists attempting to plan for security in the region... MORE

“Defeat in Afghanistan: An Autopsy”
February 17, 2023 — Policy initiatives in the Trump administration and the Biden-Harris administration significantly accelerated the Taliban victory in Afghanistan. This podcast supports the conclusion that the major factors in this defeat were the historical difficulty in governing Afghanistan, the Afghan republic’s two inefficient and corrupt governments, an ineffective US strategy, operational shortcomings by US forces, an ineffective Afghan military, Pakistan’s duplicitous policy, and the strength and determination of the Taliban. This podcast rejects the claim that the United States nation-building effort was a major factor in its defeat and concludes with a discussion of lessons encountered... MORE