Utility of Force: The Art Of War In The Modern World - Softcover

Smith, Rupert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014102044X ISBN 13: 9780141020440

Publisher: Penguin UK, 2006

Synopsis

Why do we try to use military force to solve our political problems? And why, when our forces win the military battles does this still fail to solve those problems? It is because the force lacks utility. From Iraq to the Balkans, and from Afghanistan to Chechneya, over the past fifteen years there has been a steady stream of military interventions that have not delivered on their promise for peace, or even political resolution. The Utility of Force explains this anomaly at the heart of our current international system.

About this title

About the Author

General Sir Rupert Smith is one of the most senior international practitioners in the use of force. In his forty year career in the British Army he commanded the UK Armoured Division in the 1990-91 Gulf War, was GOC Northern Ireland, commanded the UN forces in Bosnia in 1995, and served as Deputy Commander of NATO. All of this experience informs his book. He retired in 2002.

Review

"One of the most important books on modern warfare in the last decade. We would be better off if the United States had a few more generals like him." --"The Washington Post Book World" "An impressive and absorbing work of military analysis. . . . Smith is the Clausewitz of low-intensity conflict and peacekeeping operations. . . . He brilliantly lays bare the newfound limits of Western military power." --"The New York Times Book Review" "It is hard to overstate the devastating nature of this book as an indictment of almost everything the West has done in recent years, and is doing today." --"The Sunday Telegraph " "A closely argued, searching textbook on strategy and the efficient use of military power in the post-Cold War era." --"The New York Times" "Smith has written one of the most important books on modern warfare in the last decade. We would be better off if the United States had a few more generals like him." --Eliot A. Cohen, "The Washington Post Book World " "An impressive and absorbing work of military analysis . . . If, in the end, he does not quite solve the riddle of how to win the small wars of our time, he brilliantly lays bare the newfound limits of Western military power. The more Iraq looks like Bosnia on the Tigris . . . the more prescient his book will seem." --Niall Ferguson, "The New York Times Book Review " "Rupert Smith's The Utility of Force remains the seminal work on this subject. While others have added invaluable data . . . they fail to understand as Smith does that we live in a new era." --Stephen Graubard, "Financial Times " "From the Hardcover edition." " Smith has written one of the most important books on modern warfare in the last decade. We would be better off if the United States had a few more generals like him." --Eliot A. Cohen, "The Washington Post Book World " " An impressive and absorbing work of military analysis . . . If, in the end, he does not quite solve the riddle of how to win the small wars of our time, he brilliantly lays bare the newfound limits of Western military power. The more Iraq looks like Bosnia on the Tigris . . . the more prescient his book will seem." --Niall Ferguson, "The New York Times Book Review " " Rupert Smith's The Utility of Force remains the seminal work on this subject. While others have added invaluable data . . . they fail to understand as Smith does that we live in a new era." --Stephen Graubard, "Financial Times " "From the Hardcover edition."

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 014102044X
• ISBN 13: 9780141020440
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320