Cocktails from Hell: Five Complex Wars Shaping the 21st Century

If you want peace, prepare for war.—Roman adage

Even in the absence of a major war, the world remains a dangerous place. Fuses are lit in practically every region and on every continent, which could eventually ignite a global conflagration and draw the world’s superpowers into a deadly and catastrophic conflict. The U.S., Russia, and China all eye these regional conflicts with care—each hoping to use this turmoil to its advantage. Meanwhile, each of these countries attempts to avoid major direct intervention that would trigger their rivals into action.

We are, perhaps, at the most dangerous moment since 1914, when similar smoldering conflicts led to the senseless mass slaughter known as World War I.

In Cocktails from Hell, Col. Austin Bay provides a concise and indispensable guide to the most dangerous threats against peace facing the United States—and the world. An expert in military strategy, analysis, and planning, Bay uses his critical eye and sharp pen to bring each of these bubbling global situations into sharp focus, both in their local and global contexts. Civilian students of war and military experts alike will benefit from his knowledge and insights.

If you truly want to understand the state of today’s society—and the role that the U.S. must play in order to successfully avoid the next Great War—this book is a must-read.

Austin Bay is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and author of Embrace the Suck. He has written extensively on current military affairs, and has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition, Fox News, C-SPAN, MSNBC, CNBC, and Nightline. Bay writes a weekly international affairs column for Creators Syndicate and is a contributing editor at StrategyPage.com. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, the New York Observer, and other publications. Bay served most recently with Headquarters, Multi-National Corps in Iraq in 2004. He was on active duty during Operation Desert Storm and served in Germany in the 1970s. A graduate of Rice University, he has a PhD from Columbia University. He lives in Austin, Texas.