Strachan's Direction of War: Tom's own two cents to follow Jim Gourley's review

The
Best Defense mailboat recently steamed to the pier carrying a treat -- Sir Hew
Strachan's new book. I know Jim G. is
reviewing it, but since I read it I want to add a bit.

This
volume is essentially a collection of his essays since 9/11, revised a bit. As
such, they make a great introduction to Strachan, in my view the most
significant thinker on military affairs in Britain today. I've been a Strachan
fan for awhile, so I'd already read a lot of these articles, when they first
came out. But it was nice to revisit them, and reading them together
underscored the consistency of his thoughts on strategy.

I
had forgotten how tough he can be sometimes. He dismisses Samuel Huntington's Soldier and the State as "historically
illiterate." He is, unfortunately, correct, I think.