"Counterinsurgency is a tactical phoenix, dying only to rise again, ever-ready to win hearts and minds for the American empire. This essential volume makes it possible to understand the past and prepare for the next time the siren song of counterinsurgency is sung." —Marilyn Young "Hannah Gurman has assembled a groundbreaking volume filled with fresh perspectives and revealing ... Read moreinsights. If you want to understand America’s recent debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hearts and Minds is essential reading.” —Nick Turse, author of Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam "Essential reading for anyone who wants to see beyond the illusions about counterinsurgency warfare that the U.S. and British governments and media have sold their people. These histories show that, despite decades of occupations and well-funded and well-lauded strategic thinking, the hearts and minds of the occupied have remained beyond their militaries’ ken and control." —Catherine Lutz, author of The Bases of Empire and a contributor to The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual "With America creeping toward military intervention in the Syrian civil war, Hannah Gurman’s volume comes at an opportune time. While generals offer up moralistic bromides about protecting foreign populations at the barrel of an American gun, Hearts and Minds lays bare the brutal and destructive truth behind American military activism in the world." —Colonel Gian Gentile Show Less