War, like death and taxes, seems eternal but is it inevitable? Do nations simply blunder into it? What is victory and how is it achieved? The author of this original and lively study answers these and other perennial questions about War and Warfare (not the same thing) that scholars often ignore. Pike explains how strategy fuses objectives and action, how war leaders invariably (and literally) lose the plot; how the relationship between generals and politicians is key. He looks at nuclear war and provides some provocative insights; he argues that Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) - while a hideous concept - provides strategic stability. He also highlights the absurdity and folly of past wars - football wars, wars about pigs or ears - but stresses that wars, a last resort once diplomacy has failed, are lost by those blinded by hubris, irresolution or simple strategic confusion. This is the first volume in a trilogy 'Making Sense of War'. 'War in Context' will be published in the spring/summer of 2022. 'Both learned and a joy to read, Pike synthesises 2,000 years of scholarship and cuts through the fog of war and history.' Antony Bird (writer and historian)

Today more than one hundred small, asymmetric, and revolutionary wars are being waged around the world. This book provides invaluable tools for fighting such wars by taking enemy perspectives into consideration. The third volume of a trilogy by Max G. Manwaring, it continues the arguments the author presented in "Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime" and "Gangs, Pseudo-Militaries, and Other Modern Mercenaries." Using case studies, Manwaring outlines vital survival lessons for leaders and organizations concerned with national security in our contemporary world.
The insurgencies Manwaring describes span the globe. Beginning with conflicts in Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s and El Salvador in the 1980s, he goes on to cover the Shining Path and its resurgence in Peru, Al Qaeda in Spain, popular militias in Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil, the Russian youth group Nashi, and drugs and politics in Guatemala, as well as cyber warfare.
Large, wealthy, well-armed nations such as the United States have learned from experience that these small wars and insurgencies do not resemble traditional wars fought between geographically distinct nation-state adversaries by easily identified military forces. Twenty-first-century irregular conflicts blur traditional distinctions among crime, terrorism, subversion, insurgency, militia, mercenary and gang activity, and warfare.
Manwaring's multidimensional paradigm offers military and civilian leaders a much needed blueprint for achieving strategic victories and ensuring global security now and in the future. It combines military and police efforts with politics, diplomacy, economics, psychology, and ethics. The challenge he presents to civilian and military leaders is to take probable enemy perspectives into consideration, and turn resultant conceptions into strategic victories.

'The Art of War' is as relevant to today's warriors in business, politics, and everyday life as it once was to the warlords of ancient China. It is one of the most useful books ever written on leading with wisdom, an essential tool for modern corporate warriors battling to gain the advantage in the boardroom, and for anyone struggling to gain the upper hand in confrontations and competitions.