“[This book provides] numerous brilliant and sound insights into the nature of low-level conflict. Sarkesian also perceptively describes the imperatives of the military mind set and armed forces structure necessary to help the US government achieve its national objectives in a turbulent world. Despite shortcomings, the book is a good and necessary work for those who want to know about the type of warfare that will engage our military forces for the rest of this century and beyond. Community college and above.”–Choice

What were US troops doing in Sumatra in 1832? And why was there a Korean War in 1844? This book puts US history in a whole new different light.

This handbook by 14 well-known experts provides an overall analysis of U.S. military strengths and weaknesses in the 1990s and needs at the turn of the century in a period of transition when especially critical problems confront the nation. The introduction offers a broad overview of the strategic landscape, the American political scene, and the concept of national security, setting the international and domestic context for the study of the U.S. military today. The first part of the book covers the U.S. armed forces under the Department of Defense and the military chain of command. The second half of the book deals with the American way of war, conventional conflicts from the Gulf War to operations other than war, including unconventional conflicts, peacetime engagements, drug wars and revolutionary groups, and noncombat contingencies. The conclusion evaluates the military challenges confronting the United States in the 21st century and sums up America's defense capabilities for the 1990s and the future. Each chapter offers short lists of readings. A glossary and comprehensive index make this an easy-to-use reference for students, teachers, professionals, and general readers concerned with America's defense needs.

One of the most controversial aspects of United States foreign policy centers about its response to unconventional conflict--that is, revolutions, counterrevolutions, and terrorism--in and from a number of Third World countries. Examining the current U.S. political-military posture, this critical study assesses the challenges posed to open systems by these conflicts and proposes guidelines for creating a more effective U.S. response. The author first explores the nature of unconventional conflicts, then turns to the U.S. response to the challenges unconditional conflicts present. Urging the need for a new realism based on a more accurate picture of present political conditions and U.S. interests, he concludes with a series of suggested guidelines for designing U.S. policy, strategy, doctrine and organizational strategies as a means of developing a more viable approach to the challenges of contemporary military and political conflict.

Since 1889, The American Academy of Political and Social Science has served as a forum for the free exchange of ideas among the well informed and intellectually curious. In this era of specialization, few scholarly periodicals cover the scope of societies and politics like The ANNALS . Each volume is guest edited by outstanding scholars and experts in the topics studied and presents more than 200 pages of timely, in-depth research on a significant topic of concern-- http://ann.sagepub.com.

A history of the Philippines stressing its political development and its tragic struggle in World War II.

A senior expert in national security matters provides the first comparative analysis of unconventional conflicts, using Malaya and Vietnam as lessons for devising new U.S. strategie to counter Third World strife and "drug wars" in the future. This is a provocative text for classes in U.S. foreign policy and military studies.