Research is the key to a site like this, that writes about things on the frontier of our understanding. Here are resources that I find most useful (Google is at the top of the list). Please comment on what you find of use.
Defense and the National Interest
The DNI website is a massive archive of works on many aspects of modern warfare and geopolitics.
Questia (amazing value for only $70/year)
Questiais the world’s largest online library of books, with over 67,000 full-text books, 1.5 million articles, and an entire reference set complete with a dictionary, encyclopedia, and thesaurus. Your subscription to the entire Questia academic library also includes digital productivity tools for highlighting text, taking notes, and generating footnotes and bibliographies in seven different styles.
What makes this site unique is that it is both collaborative and dedicated to both the practical and deeply philosophical issues surrounding counterinsurgency. Many of the articles included here deal with specific counterinsurgencies, ranging from Iraq to Malaysia to Vietnam; other articles address practical questions such as the role of indigenous police forces in counterinsurgency. Still others deal with the theoretical foundations of the state, a subject that, even while largely unacknowledged, underlies counterinsurgency efforts. At all times, this site is interested in a holistic view of success in counterinsurgency.
The Marine Corps Gazette
There are many good periodicals about modern warfare. I consider The Marine Corps Gazette to be one of the best. Since the publication in 1989 of the Lind et al article Into the Fourth Generation it has been in the forefront of coverage of and discussion about the paradoxes and challenges of 4GW. The Gazette is available to members of the Marine Corps Association and subscribers only. If you’re eligible, consider joining. If you’re not, consider subscribing Click here for details.
RGE Monitor was founded in 2004 by a prestigious team of economic and politicalexperts. Today, thousands of senior managers at first-tier public and private financial institutions rely on our insights. Our clients include prominent asset managers, hedge funds, commercial banks, investment banks, policy organizations and universities. Thanks to our innovative content and services, RGE Monitor has been named one of the world’s best economics websites by BusinessWeek, The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.
… RGE Monitor delivers ahead-of-the-curve globaleconomic insights that financial professionals need to know. Our analysts define the key geostrategic debates and continuously distill the best thinking on all sides.
Books in my library that I most often use
- Bloom, Allan, Closing of the American Mind — my review.
- Bowden, Mark, Black Hawk Down — my review.
- Brown, Anthony cave Brown, Bodyguard of Lies— “The true story of he clandestine war of deceptions that hid the secrets of D-Day from Hitler.”
- Creveld, Martin van, Technology of War — “From 2000 BC to the present.”
- Creveld, Martin van, The Transformation of War— “The most radical reinterpretation of armed conflict since Clausewitz.”
- Creveld, Martin van, Rise and Decline of the State
- Creveld, Martin van, The Changing Face of War — “Lessons of combat from the Marne to Iraq.” Reviews by William Lind and my review.
- Freidrich, Otto, Before the Deluge: Berlin in the Twenties
- Halberstram, David, The Best and the Brightest
- Robb, John, Brave New War — “The next stage of terrorism and the end of globalization.”
- Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism — A history of the CIA. my review.
- Lawrence, TE, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
- Lt. General Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once… and Young— “Ia Drang, the battle that changed the war in Vietnam.” my review.
- Richards, Chet, A Swift, Elusive Sword — “What if Sun Tzu and John Boyd did a National Defense Review?”
- Richards, Chet, Neither Shall the Sword — “Conflict in the years ahead.”
- Richards, Chet, If We Can Keep It— “A National Security Manifesto for the next administration.” my review.
- Schivelbusch, Wolfgang , The Culture of Defeat— “On national trauma, mourning, and recovery”
- Smith, Rupert (General, Retired), The Utility of Force — “The art of war in the modern world.”
- Vandergriff, Donald (Editor), Spirit, Blood and Treasure (2001) — DNI Review.
- Vandergriff, Donald, The Path to Victory: America’s Army and the Revolution in Human Affairs (2002) — DNI review.
- Vandergriff, Donald, Raising the Bar: Creating and Nurturing Adaptability to Deal with the Changing Face of War, (2006) — DNI review.
- Vandergriff, Donald, Army of the Republic: Manning the Legions and Finding and Preparing Future Centurions — to be release in 2008.
- Weiner, Tim, Legacy of Ashes — A history of the CIA. my review.
- Zweig, Stefan, World of Yesterday — One man’s view of how Europe changed from 1890 to 1942.
Please share your comments by posting below (brief and relevant, please), or email me at fabmaximus at hotmail dot com (note the spam-protected spelling).
These are somewhat narrow and relate mostly to where we are in two (soon three?) wars, but extremely valuable:
A Short History of the Arab Peoples – John Bagot Glubb… sort of the British Petraeus with a lot of insight… chapter XX, The Value of History, is a must read with its explication of the organic theory of the imperial lifecycle
The Muqqadimah – Ibn Khaldun… generally recognized as the first book ever to engage in comparative history (author born 1332 CE).
1001 Nights and a Night (complete) – Burton translation. An incomparable work of literature with notes by one of the great British geniuses of the 19th Century… limited editions only available, generally from the Burton society. His travelogues about Mecca and Medina are also of interest.
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Fabius Maximus replies: Thanks for these. Mentioning 1001 nights… I wonder what was among the papers burned by Burton’s wife?
Also, not something I use much but learned much from: “A History of the Arab Peoples” by Albert Hourani.
Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present – Micheal Oren… A good overview of American interactions with the Middle East dating back to the American Revolution. Especially interesting to see the roles played by economic, religious, and state interests, and how they have shaped America’s presence.
A companion piece to “Legacy of Ashes” and “The Culture of Narcissism” is the Soviet viewpoint of the same time period:
“The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World” by Chris Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin.
“The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB” also by the above.
Together they paint a picture of both sides failures in intelligence. Almost makes one wonder how we avoided nuclear war at all.
Two descriptions of how transnational criminal organizations have arisen:
Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy by Moises Naim
McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny
An historical precedent for this type of scenario: Warlord Era China.
Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave ( Includes graphic descriptions of how the Shanghai Green Gang dominated Ch’aing Kai Shek’s government ).
Warlord Politics in China, 1916-1928 by Hsi-Sheng Chi
Bandits in Republican China by Phil Billingsley
Popular Movements and Secret Societies in China, 1840-1950
Questia doesn’t seem to have much on hard science and social science — when I glanced at the intro, I could find only business, history, literature and religion. Am I missing something? $70 per year to get access to social science journals would be a good deal.
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Fabius Maximus replies: Its scope is growing. These meta-access services have great potential, opening up resources to a mass audience.