Military Law Books

This book is organized, well-written, and brilliant.

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Robert J. Art (Professor of International Relations, Brandeis University) and Patrick M. Cronin (Assistant Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development), The United States And Coercive Diplomacy is a collection of learned essays by a variety of authors, each of whom look at American "coercive diplomacy", that is, the striving to change the behavior of a state or group through the threat of, or limited use of, military force. Studying cases in Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq, Taiwan, North Korea, and others, The United States And Coercive Diplomacy affords a series of perceptive views of this trend in American international relations and what it means for the present and future. The United States And Coercive Diplomacy is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to International Studies reading lists and reference collections.

When I was trying to plan one of my clients transactions within EU it help me to figure out the whole screen

A fresh, original, pioneering book that adds a new roadmap to thinking about military endeavers. Like any good philosophical work, there is an emphasis on precision in language. The Book begins with 9/11. President Bush declared victory in Iraq after several weeks of combat operations. Since we're still stuck there, what did he mean? In the introduction, the author addresses two major questions. "...there is no theory or precise language that permits policymakers, military officials and the public to agree on what 'victory' means or when 'victory' has been attained." Second: "...humans have been waging war for the past six thousand years without a framework for victory, and yet have successively waged wars. How can this be so? Is a theory of victory something distinct from a military strategy in war or a theory of war. What do we gain by developing one? How would such a theory fit into modern defense planning?" The author modestly describes this book as only the first step.
The next two chapters, beginning with Sun Tzu, provide a useful summary of the major military thinkers. They conclude with the problems arising from nuclear warfare. Remember the "nuclear winter" discussions of the late eighties. Victory would be meaningless. However, the War on Terror has restored the concept of victory to the language.
He spends the next two chapters exploring what could be meant by "victory" and the definition problems. They cover in detail the American concept of "victory" arising from our history. The next six chapters provide thoughts on selected American military actions post vietnam, beginning with the raid on Lobya. The next chapter discusses military power and the concept of victory. In the final analysis, successful occupation by ground forces is the ultimate seal. The contribution and limitations of navel and airpower are recognized.
The concluding chapter outlines possible avenues for future scholarship to build on what the author started. As readers might expect, the writing is dense and somewhat repetitive with a social science flavor. It should not deter anyone from tackling this book because of its importance.
In all my years of reading about military affairs and history, I've never encountered anything quite like the ideas in this volume. There's nothing comparable in my extensive personal military history library. His call for new thinking is a critical appeal since we've embarked on the heartrending struggle in Iraq. Without a clear idea of what we expected to achieve, there's no wonder we find ourselves in such straits. The real tragedy is that fine young people are dying there for an undefined purpose. This book could not be more timely. I urge everyone to read it.

A reader seeking to understand the causes and consequences of the War of 1898 would do well to begin with Trask's analysis. The volume is a broad overview of a pivotal moment in the development of U.S. foreign policy, but it manages to preserve clarity and insight despite its scope. It sharply undermines the standard revisionist interpretation of American behavior, forwarded for example by Perez and Foner, which holds that the United States engaged Spain in a war over Cuba in order to keep the island for itself. It does so by convincingly demonstrating that domestic politics in the United States and Spain set the two nations on a collision course with each other (but see Offner for the best presentation of these politics), although it does not say enough about how racism allowed the United States to ignore the legitimacy of Cuba's claims to independence. It mostly succeeds by showing how simple accidents of history, such as the de Lome letter, the mysterious explosion of the Maine, and the conquest of the Philippines by the United States (which was undertaken for reasons related to basic military strategy, not sinister imperial ambitions) prodded events along and restricted the legitimate options available to policymakers. In retrospect, a war entered into for ostensibly humanitarian reasons but resulting in a global empire for America seems obviously to have been the product of selfish, two-faced conspirators. As Trask's thoroughly documented and ably argued narrative reveals, however, sometimes intellectually coherent interpretations say more about the interpreter than the events themselves. A loaded moment in the history of the United States, Spain, Cuba, and the Philippines, the War of 1898 has generated almost as many interpretations as authors. For the best and least biased account of this episode, consult Trask.

Ziegler's book is a very readable, balanced overview of what most people see as the key question in national security -- how to prevent war. I have personally read 3 different editions of this book over the years, because I find it useful to think again about the issue. The primary approach of the book is two-fold. First there are some historical examples of times of crisis in war and peace. Then, using those examples (for which Ziegler can now have confidence in at least part of what the reader knows about them), a wide variety of appraoches to preventing war (military strength, arms control, diplomacy, world government, etc.) are considered in individual chapters. The conclusion I draw from reading this book is that there is no clear way to prevent war, but that there are lots of tools we can bring to bear in ensuring that, if war comes, it was not caused by regretable error (a la the Guns of August). As you can see, I recommend it as both a good read and a comprehensive (if introductory) discussion of the topic.

Being a Marine Mammal ecologist myself, and having worked closely on issues pertaining the International Whaling Commission, I consult this book regularly and recommend it strongly to anyone interested in complexities international governance of wildlife, particularly whales and dolphins.
The author is highly experienced and explains these complex issues in simple and logical language which anyone can understand.
Although this book pertains to environmental law, it also should be read by the scientists like myself, who deal with these matters in the context of the international conservation arena.

In this book Robert Perito has lifted the veil from one of our biggest short comings in stability operations, the lack of a national law enforcement organization that can perform constabulary missions.

In the book he describes how organizations such as the Gendarmerie Nationale and the Carabinieri are more appropriate organizations to address this challenge than our current method of operation. These "police with military status" organizations have the proper training, experience, organization and logistical support for the stability mission and have the ability to adapt to the operational spectrum from basic policing operations, public security, civil disturbance control, mafia groups and banditry, through to limited combat operations.

If there is one oversight in his discussion on the subject he fails to mention the one "police with military status" organization that we do have, the US Coast Guard. While performing its mission on or near water a lot of the principles, structures, and operational dimensions this organization provides are similar to the operational needs and the proposed organizations to address those needs. Maybe it's time we formed an 6th armed service organization like the Coast Guard for land missions from the Border Patrol; uniformed federal agencies, like the Park Police, Uniformed Division Secret Service, Federal Protect Service, etc; and the Military Police.

Philippa Strum's sympathies clearly lie with those who argued for admitting women to the Virginia Military Institute. However, they haven't prevented her from giving us a comprehensive and fairly balanced look at the VMI case from start to ... if not finish, at least to the graduation of the first women to begin the school in the rat line.

One area where Strum's analysis is particularly strong is in tracing the history of anti-discrimination and equal rights law in the United States. She shows the jurisprudential evolution of the idea that, rather than women requiring special protection, all people are entitled to the rights and benefits of equal citizenship, regardless of sex. Indeed, following the trend of relevant Supreme Court cases as the author lays it out for us, it's hard to see how VMI's defenders could have believed the Court would ever do anything *but* order the publicly-funded military academy to admit women on an equal basis.

But believe it they did, and Strum shows how the two sides in the case were arguing fundamentally different points: VMI, that tax-funded single-sex education served a public good, and the Justice Department that, whether single-sex education is good or not, public funding of it (VMI being a government school) is unacceptable under the 14th Amendment. Neither side seemed fully to understand the other, and Strum does a thorough job of showing how the two sides in many ways failed to confront one another's arguments head-on.

Strum frames VMI as a defender of outmoded stereotypes and anachronistic ways of thinking (notably the 'women-as-lady' myth, as she calls it). It's a portrait VMI's defenders no doubt resent, but it's clear that their focus on 'how men learn' versus 'how women learn' was based more on differences between men and women *as groups* than on what kind of system might be best for any given *individual*. After all, as Strum points out, if VMI's adversative system isn't right or attractive for most women, the undeniable fact (based on the number of male high school seniors who apply to VMI relative to their number nationwide, for example) is that it's not right or attractive for most men, either.

This brings us to some areas I wished Strum had developed further. Most interesting was her assertion -- based on circumstantial evidence -- that the Bush Administration (Bush I) must have blocked the Justice Department from arguing that VMI's treasured adversative system was unnecessary for molding the kind of citizen-soldier leaders that VMI exists to produce. Certainly (as Ed Ruggero relates in 'Duty First: West Point and the Making of American Leaders'), the USMA ultimately decided its adversative system was actually counterproductive for that purpose, and so abandoned it. But Justice planted its flag on the (arguably weaker) ground that forcing VMI to admit women would not cause a fundamental change in the VMI system or ethos. The jury is still out about whether that's proven true.

Another question this book raised for me that Strum left entirely unaddressed was the appropriateness of cause-activists pursing their agenda on the bench. Specifically, Strum titles her chapter on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 'The Advocate.' Justice Ginsburg (clearly the hero -- can we still say 'heroine'? -- of this book) spent her pre-Court career promoting a certain understanding of law and pursuing specific social and policy objectives. Once on the bench, judges assume a mantle of impartiality -- in exchange for which they enjoy the 'procedural consensus' Strum defines as the key to translating Court decisions into social change. And yet, Strum makes it clear that Ginsburg's jurisprudence in the VMI case was of a piece with her earlier work. Strum quotes another legal scholar describing the VMI decision as 'the vindication for [Ginsburg's] legal career ... the opinion she hoped the Court would one day arrive at when she first started arguing cases of discrimination in the 1960s' (p. 295). Is it right for judges (of any philosophical persuasion) to continue as advocates once they're on the bench? Public acceptance of that idea would seem to threaten the very 'procedural consensus' the advocates rely upon to achieve their goals.

That question aside, though, I enjoyed reading this comprehensive look at the VMI case. Despite clear indications of where she stands on the question, a few broad ideological brush strokes (conservatives are frequently described as 'angry'), and the occasional off-the-wall comment ('Nothing had been more central to the South than racism' [p. 102].) the author's presentation of both sides of this important case was, on the whole, equitable and balanced. As I said, it's hard to escape the conclusion that VMI's stand was doomed from the start. So long as government runs schools, they will be subject to the political process. And in 1996 as in 1864, VMI couldn't withstand the weight of Uncle Sam, no matter how much its defenders loved it, or how fervently they sacrificed to protect it.

I read this book over a year ago because of a review I read somewhere. It is so full of texture, of the grinding machine that is war, with the little bleeps of love and beauty that keep people plodding along. It is a wonderful book. I still think about it a year later and I immediately ordered his other 2 books. I read voraciously and this is a gem. The characters are so surprising and real. I am amazed this is a young adult book. I am aware of book clubs that have read the book and been captivated by it. It should be widely read. Where is Oprah?

A rare opportunity to experience the insight of Germany life during the war. It can be a little bit depressive in the beginning, but the story is extremely well developed. I hope it remains popular for generations.

This book was fantastic!! I just got done with it, literally, and i must say it is one great piece of literature. This was a summer reading assingment and i was not looking forward to it because of it's length, but trust me, you get over that quickly. It was actually a quick read since there is much spacing in the book. Since i am a world class procrastinator i was forced to finish it in less than 5 days.

The big seller on this for me was the narrator being death during WW II. A fantastic perspective for that time, don't you think? Please buy this book, you will not be sorry! By the way there is a film coming out in 2010 so you could read the book and then compare it to the movie when it is released. Happy reading, Juan

I'm afraid I'm writing this review without having read the whole book. After reading the first couple chapters I became so impatient with the affected, graceless prose that I left off reading. Tries to be too cute and arty, forgets to show instead of tell.

This was an amazing story. Truly extraordinary. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars and I wish I could take the author aside, look him in the eye, and tell him how much I truly loved this book. It was haunting, stunning, sad, amazing and gripping. I didn't know it was a Young Adult book. It was so powerful. I sobbed and sobbed at the end. So beautifully written.