PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Sean McFate is a Professor of Strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, in Washington DC. He served as a paratrooper in the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division and then worked for a major private military corporation, where he ran operations similar to those in his novels Shadow War and Deep Black. He is the author of The Modern Mercenary- Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order, and holds a BA from Brown University, an MA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He lives with his family in Washington, DC. You can learn more at www.seanmcfate.com.
Why do western powers keep getting beaten when they go to war? This hard-hitting polemic by a former US paratrooper explains why - we are addicted to expensive, big tech that is useless against guerillas. Sean McFate's suggestion that western powers make greater use of mercenaries is interesting * The Times, 100 Best Books for Summer * My summer surprise - the sharpest account of the dilemmas of war and peace I've read for years * Robert Fox, Evening Standard * McFate understands his subject from the inside... excellent -- General Sir Rupert Smith Stunning. McFate is the new Sun Tzu -- Admiral James Stavridis Essential Reading -- General Stanley McChrystal A fascinating and disturbing book * Economist * Radical thoughts on the West's approach to modern warfare * Sunday Times, Must Reads * His iconoclastic book is being hailed by radicals as a wake-up call to governments and armed forces everywhere, to stop doing all the wrong things; to start doing a few right ones . . . Some of what he says makes more sense than much of what comes out of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence * Max Hastings, Sunday Times * Thought-provoking. Sean McFate puts his finger on key issues for Western security * Jonathan Evans, former head of MI5 * A thought-provoking book. Sean McFate has admirably captured the challenges we face with an evolving character of warfare. Technology and the pervasiveness of information have blurred the distinction between peace and war and have opened up seams that our opponents are ruthlessly exploiting, utilising weapons that don't need to go bang -- General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff Lively and provocative ... laced with examples from the history of conflict as well as his own career as a soldier * Sir Lawrence Freedman * An important book * Sir Richard Dearlove, former Director of MI6 * The Freakonomics of modern warfare * Conn Iggulden *
