The opening chapter of 21 different books: Makers of Modern Strategy edited by Edward Mead Earle

 Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought from Machiavelli to Hitler is a collaboration of some 20 writers attempting to detail the evolution of military thought from the 16th century to 1943. That very specific year makes it an interesting book, as it came out just before the final stages of the Second World War. My copy was printed in 1972, and I find it very interesting that it was not updated in almost 20 years between its original copy write date and its republication. This book came from my West Point collection, which I talked about in the first post I ever did, which brings up some questions because the implication is that this was required reading in a West Point class, even though it had not been updated since before the advent of the nuclear age. Surely someone has done some worthy thinking since then, something that a West Point cadet would need to know about.

These are some very 70's colors

What is in the book is interesting but dense. A well-spiced jerky, rather than a tender steak. Each chapter covers either a single thinker or, more and more as time relentlessly advances, multiple different related thinkers. Those chapters are some real tough meat. A meat I am not certain I properly digested if I am going to be honest. Textbooks are meant to be studied with pen and paper for notes on hand, not read in snippets while on break from work, or an hour or two on a lazy Sunday morning if you are really going to get something out of it, especially when they are this dense. 

That density is put to good use though. I am passingly familiar with some of these thinkers, and if the whole book is about as good it is fairly good coverage, right up to the time of writing. They try to present an understanding of Japanese, German and Soviet military thought as of 1943 and they seem off the mark, but to the book's credit, there is an acknowledgment that full knowledge may be many years and declassification in the future. Learning about how wars are thought about is very important. How you think about war guides how you prepare for it, and how you fight it, and I believe that many here in America don't think about war that deeply. This is a little strange when you consider we are enjoying the first peace in 20 years. One would think that fighting for so long would make us much more interested in winning wars but no. It is much more superficial, and people seem too focused on the tactical rather than strategic dimension. How do you win a fight, rather than you do you win a war. That is not a good way to win wars. 

So would I recommend Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought from Machiavelli to Hitler? Recommending older scholarly works is really difficult. In my experience, the newer stuff tends to be better as it can expand and respond to the older works. Also, readability is more widely recognized as being important. Therefore, I would recommend something like this book, but not this book.

Now to my next read. Hopefully, a little less dense. The first roll is a two, which gets me a shelf of 31 books. The second roll is a two and a 9 for book number 10.

Looks like I felt like rolling 2s.

Book number 10 is another textbook, with a very different subject. Everyday Morality: An Introduction to Applied Ethics by Mike W. Martin. We turn from war to such delightful subjects as murder, and drug abuse. I hope you will join me next time.

A much more ascetically pleasing cover, but modern books seem less well made.