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The Insurgents

The Insurgents David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War

Hardback (31 Jan 2013)

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Publisher's Synopsis

THE INSURGENTS unfolds against the backdrop of two wars waged against insurgencies-- wars which the Pentagon's top generals didn't know how to fight. But a small group of soldiers and scholars did have a plan for fighting these kinds of wars, people like General David Petraeus and Colonels John Nagl, David Kilcullen, and H.R. McMaster. In order to push the idea of "counterinsurgency" warfare, they behaved like insurgents within their own army-and very self-consciously so. Fred Kaplan explains where this idea came from, and how the men and women who latched onto this idea created a community (some would refer to themselves as a "cabal") that maneuvered the idea through the highest echelons of power.

But this is also a cautionary tale about how even creative ideas can harden into dogma, how smart strategists-the "best and the brightest" of our times-can sometimes sway politicians but don't always win wars. The Insurgents made their military more adaptive to the conflicts of the post-Cold War era, but their self-confidence led us deeper into wars that we shouldn't have been fighting and perhaps couldn't have been won.

About the Publisher

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Simon & Schuster is a part of CBS Corporation. Simon & Schuster is a major force in today's consumer publishing industry, dedicated to bringing an extensive cross section of first class information and entertainment in all printed, digital and audio formats to a worldwide audience of readers. Simon & Schuster consists of numerous prestigious and well known imprints, including Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Atria, Touchstone, Threshold Editions, Gallery Books, Free Press, Pocket Books, Howard Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon Pulse, Aladdin, Little Simon, and Simon Spotlight.

Book information

ISBN: 9781451642636
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Imprint: Simon & Schuster
Pub date:
DEWEY: 355.02180973
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 432
Weight: 660g
Height: 241mm
Width: 167mm
Spine width: 35mm