About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherPenguin Publishing Group

ISBN-101594204985

ISBN-139781594204982

eBay Product ID (ePID)201642090

Product Key Features

Book TitleKnife Fights : a Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice

Number of Pages272 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2014

TopicMilitary Science, Public Policy / Military Policy, Revolutionary, Military / Iraq War (2003-2011), Military / Afghan War (2001-), Military

IllustratorYes

GenrePolitical Science, Technology & Engineering, Biography & Autobiography, History

AuthorJohn A. Nagl

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight18.3 Oz

Item Length9.5 in

Item Width6.4 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2014-032905

ReviewsGeneral David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.), commander of the "surge" in Iraq: "A wonderfully readable and strikingly forthright memoir by a brilliant Army officer turned think tank leader who achieved an exceptional record on the battlefield, in the academic arena, in a high-powered job in the Pentagon, and as one of the so-called ''insurgents'' who helped transform the way the U.S. military thought about, prepared for, and conducted the wars of the post-9/11 era." General Jim Mattis, U.S. Marines (Ret.): "John Nagl's illuminating journey as a combat Soldier-Leader-Thinker provides a refreshing perspective of the changing character of today's security challenges. To those searching for a relevant and historically grounded understanding of today's erupting realities, his book is uniquely enlightening." Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.), Supreme Allied Commander at NATO 2009-2013 and current Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University: "In Knife Fights , John Nagl takes the reader from the halls of the Pentagon to the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, and illuminates the modern battlefields-both in Washington and overseas-in harsh and vivid light. His work on counterinsurgency is deep and profound, and this book is the essential back story both of the intellectual process that underpins it and the personal journey that formed it. A powerful and meaningful memoir that will resonate in today''s Army and tomorrow''s society." Peter R. Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.); author, Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War: "A magnificent memoir from one of the most brilliant officers of his generation. Knife Fights details John Nagl's journey from the halls of West Point and Oxford to the battlefields of Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as his struggles and triumphs among Washington''s power elite. Highly recommended for those who seek to understand how the Army overcame its initial dysfunction to wage the messy counterinsurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." F. G. Hoffman, National Defense University, Washington DC: "There are many books from veterans of America''s costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Few will combine the intellectual heft, emotional power, and exemplary moral courage of John Nagl's Knife Fights . It traces the development of the author from his early days as a cadet at West Point to the darkest days of fighting in Al Anbar province in Iraq and beyond. This book will stand on its own special shelf as a personal memoir of a soldier/scholar, a warrior and a great teacher. Highly recommended for all military students, and anyone interested in the journey of an institutional insurgent and patriot who followed his own path." Robert D. Kaplan: "Brimming with poignancy and integrity, John Nagl''s book is an instant classic of America''s decade of war in the Greater Middle East. Its core argument, moreover, is undeniable: that insurgency and counterinsurgency have been part of the history of war since antiquity and thus will be part of its future. May the United States Army and Marine Corps hold close the lessons of this book!" David E. Johnson, senior researcher at the RAND Corporation; inaugural director of the Chief of Staff of the Army Strategic Studies Group; author of Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945 , Hard Fighting: Israel in Lebanon and Gaza , and The 2008 Battle of Sadr City: Reimagining Urban Combat : "John Nagl's Knife Fights is a brave book by a soldier-scholar who has always put himself out there for the right reasons. John's remarkable memoir is a directed telescope into how the U.S. Army changed its doctrinal paradigm for the first time since World War I from ''closing with and destroying the enemy'' to ''protecting the population.'' Readers will also see that he was a key intellectual force in this shift and how difficult these changes are for the institutions-and for the catalytic advocates like John."

Dewey Edition23

Grade FromTwelfth Grade

Dewey Decimal355.02/180973

Synopsis"From one of the most important army officers of his generation, a memoir of the revolution in warfare he helped lead, in combat and in Washington" When John Nagl was an army tank commander inthe first Gulf War of 1991, fresh out of West Pointand Oxford, he could already see that America smilitary superiority meant that the age ofconventional combat was nearing an end. Nagl wasan early convert to the view that America s greatestfuture threats would come from asymmetricwarfare guerrillas, terrorists, and insurgents.But that made him an outsider within the army;and as if to double down on his dissidence, hescorned the conventional path to a general s starsand got the military to send him back to Oxford tostudy the history of counterinsurgency in earnest, searching for guideposts for America. The resultwould become the bible of the counterinsurgencymovement, a book called "Learning to Eat Soup witha Knife." But it would take the events of 9/11 andthe botched aftermath of the Iraq invasion togive counterinsurgency urgent contemporaryrelevance. John Nagl s ideas finally met their war.But even as his book began ricocheting aroundthe Pentagon, Nagl, now operations officer ofa tank battalion of the 1st Infantry Division, deployed to a particularly unsettled quadrantof Iraq. Here theory met practice, violently. Noone knew how messy even the most successfulcounterinsurgency campaign is better than Nagl, and his experience in Anbar Province cementedhis view. After a year s hard fighting, Nagl wassent to the Pentagon to work for Deputy Secretaryof Defense Paul Wolfowitz, where he was tappedby General David Petraeus to coauthor the newarmy and marine counterinsurgency field manual, rewriting core army doctrine in the middle of twobloody land wars and helping the new ideas winacceptance in one of the planet s most conservativebureaucracies. That doctrine changed the course oftwo wars and the thinking of an army. Nagl is not blind to the costs or consequencesof counterinsurgency, a policy he compared to eating soup with a knife. The men who diedunder his command in Iraq will haunt him to hisgrave. When it comes to war, there are only badchoices; the question is only which ones are betterand which worse. Nagl s memoir is a profoundeducation in modern war in theory, in practice, and in the often tortured relationship betweenthe two. It is essential reading for anyone whocares about the fate of America s soldiers and thepurposes for which their lives are put at risk.", John Nagl is one of the US s most important army officers. He is not blind to the consequences of counterinsurgency. When it comes to war, there are only bad choices; the question is, which ones are better and which worse. His memoir is a profound education in modern war, and essential reading for anyone who cares about the fate of allied soldiers and the purposes for which their lives are put at risk.

LC Classification NumberU241.N34 2014

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Knife Fights : A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice by John A. Nagl (2014, Hardcover)

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