Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present - Hardcover

Boot, Max

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871404249 ISBN 13: 9780871404244

Publisher: Liveright, 2013

Synopsis

As fitting for the twenty-first century as von Clausewitz’s On War was in its own time, Invisible Armies is a complete global history of guerrilla uprisings through the ages.

Beginning with the first insurgencies in the ancient world―when Alexander the Great discovered that fleet nomads were harder to defeat than massive conventional armies―Max Boot, best-selling author and military advisor in Iraq and Afghanistan, masterfully guides us from the Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire up through the horrors of the French-Indochina War and the shadowy, post-9/11 battlefields of today. Relying on a diverse cast of unforgettable characters―not only Mao and Che but also the legendary Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, the archaeologist-turned–military commander T. E. Lawrence, and the “Quiet American” Edward Lansdale, among others―Boot explodes everything we thought we knew about unconventional combat. The result is both an enthralling read and our most important work on nontraditional warfare. 70 illustrations; 8 maps

About this title

About the Author

Max Boot is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a global affairs analyst for CNN. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.

Review

“[A] comprehensive history of guerrilla warfare, breezily written and chock-full of perceptive insights.... [Boot] has a great feel for details...a mighty impressive achievement, one that should be a bible for policymakers everywhere in the civilized world.”
- Steve Forbes, Forbes Magazine

“A sweeping panorama that ranges over a vast terrain... thoughtful, smart, fluent, with an eye for the good story.”
- Mark Mazover, New York Times Book Review, Front Page Review

“Max Boot has written a landmark book about a perennial and important challenge: guerilla warfare.”
- Jon Meacham, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

“A penetrating writer and thinker.”
- Wall Street Journal

“Fascinating. . . . Beginning with the barbarians at the gates of the Roman Empire, a wonderful and valuable historic narrative filled with colorful characters.”
- Walter Isaacson

“[D]estined to be the classic account of what may be the oldest as well as the hardest form of war.”
- John Nagl, The Wall Street Journal

“This is the definitive treatment of guerrilla warfare through the ages―a tour de force by a preeminent military historian who has advised generals, policymakers and political leaders on the subject.”
- Senator John S. McCain

“An expansive nuts-and-bolts historical survey from a keen military mind.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“...[I]mpressively researched, astutely synthesized, and eminently readable.”
- Booklist

“The word “magisterial” is bandied about far too freely these days, but in the case of Max Boot’s sweeping and deeply researched history of guerrilla warfare, it proves fair. Somewhere in the first third of Boot’s book, you begin to realize that guerrilla wars (and terrorism and insurgencies) are the way we fight, while the formal set battles of, say, the Napoleonic wars are but an exception.”
- Lucas Wittmann, The Daily Beast

About this edition

• Publisher: Liveright
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0871404249
• ISBN 13: 9780871404244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 784