Small Wars Journal

Understanding Counterinsurgency: A Review by Captain Crispin Burke

Thu, 09/23/2010 - 5:39pm

National Defense Univeristy Press just published a review of Understanding Counterinsurgency: Doctrine, Operations and Challenges by CPT Crispin Burke (Starbuck around here). From NDU:

"Followers of the many discussions about counterinsurgency being bandied about the blogosphere should be familiar with the name of today's contributor. As the keeper of the influential blog Wings Over Iraq and a contributor to Small Wars Journal and many other blogs, Captain Crispin Burke, USA, is in the vanguard of rising young warrior-scholars who are translating their mastery of the classic counterinsurgency canon into the dynamic contemporary milieu of online discussion and debate about the subject. For our purposes today, though, the good old-fashioned book review is CPT Burke's weapon of choice—but maybe he read the book on one of those new-fangled electronic devices... In any event, let us know if his assessment whets your appetite to delve into the book for yourself."

Here's the author lineup: Part I: Doctrine; France by Etienne de Durand, Britain by Alexander Alderson, Germany by Timo Noetzel, United States by Conrad Crane. Part II: Operational Aspects; Army by Peter Mansoor, Marine Corps by Frank Hoffman, Airpower by Charles Dunlap, Jr, Naval Support by Martin Murphy, Special Operationsby Kalev Sepp, Intelligence by David Kilcullen, Local Security Forces by John Nagl. Part III: Challenges; Governance by Nadia Schadlow, Culture by Montgomery McFate, Ethics by Sarah Sewall, Information Operations by Andrew Exum, Civil-Military Integration by Michelle Parker and Matthew Irvine, Time by Austin Long, Counterinsurgency in Context by Thomas Rid and Thomas Keaney.

Read the review here and purchase Understanding Counterinsurgency here.

Comments

NIPR sucks. It won't even let me pull up the ad for the book.

Too bad there isn't a Barnes and Noble in Ramadi.

For what it is worth, I just paid $38 for the softcover version. That's a big price delta.