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The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
David Kilcullen
€ 20.99
€ 20.31
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Description for The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
Paperback. Classic writing on war in the modern age of non-state actors, etc Series: Conflict Classics. Num Pages: 392 pages. BIC Classification: HBJK; JPS; JPWL; JWDG. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Weight in Grams: 512.
This landmark book--a Washington Post bestseller--transformed the theory and practice of counterinsurgency. Colouring his account with gripping battlefield experience from the highlands of Southeast Asia, the mountains of the Afghanistan Pakistan border, and the dusty towns of the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, David Kilcullen argues that neither counterterrorism nor traditional counterinsurgency is the appropriate framework to fight the enemy we now face. Traditional counterinsurgency is more effective than counterterrorism when it comes to entities like Al-Qaeda, but, as Kilcullen contends, our current focus is far too narrow, concentrating on only one geographical region and one state. Today's wars present a much different situation: stateless insurgents and terrorists operating across a large number of countries and only loosely affiliated with each other. Western armies have done a poor job of applying different tactics to different situations, continually misidentifying insurgents with limited aims and legitimate grievances as part of a coordinated worldwide network. The Accidental Guerrilla identifies the problem and suggests workable solutions. This highly readable and closely argued book is essential for all those thinking about and fighting wars today.
Product Details
Publisher
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2017
Series
Conflict Classics
Condition
New
Number of Pages
392
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9781849047111
SKU
V9781849047111
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 5 to 9 working days
Ref
99-50
About David Kilcullen
David Kilcullen is one of the world's foremost thinkers on counterinsurgency and military strategy. He is the author of Counterinsurgency, Out of the Mountains, and Blood Year: Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror. He was formerly Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq and to the NATO Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. He is currently Chairman of Caerus Associates, a Washington-based strategy and design firm, and First Mile Geo, a geospatial analysis firm. He is also a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, studying insurgency and unconventional warfare. He has served in Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Reviews for The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
For a wider perspective on the lessons drawn over the past seven years of the 'war on terror', the reader can do no better than turn to Mr Kilcullen's excellent book. The Accidental Guerrilla has an anthropologist's sense of social dynamics and a reporter's eye for telling detail. If T.E. Lawrence evoked the means of waging irregular warfare in his 1926 classic, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Mr Kilcullen describes the practitioner's art of combating insurgents.
The Economist At the heart of this significant book is the author's declaration that terrorism cannot be addressed by military means alone: that for American or British soldiers merely to kill insurgents is meaningless. He urges policies based upon securing and succouring populations, not on enemy body counts. . . . Kilcullen is an influential man. A former Australian army officer, he became a key adviser to General David Petraeus and then Condoleezza Rice's principal counter-terrorist strategist at the State Department. His book synthesises lessons that America has learnt by bitter experience and that, hopefully, will continue to influence its politics in the Obama era. . . Almost everything the author says makes sense. His work reflects wisdom purchased by eight years of western military and political folly.
Max Hastings, The Sunday Times This book should be required reading for anyone involved in the war on terror. Kilcullen's central concept of the 'accidental guerrilla' is brilliant and the policy prescriptions that flow from it important. And that's not all; the book has many more insights drawn from various battlefields.
Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek David Kilcullen's Accidental Guerrilla is a richly reported and well written account of the new way of war of the twenty-first century; how those small wars will differ from previous conflicts and what they have in common with past insurgencies and counterinsurgencies. Analytically very sharp and also an engrossing read, Kilcullen's book is destined to become a classic study of warfare in our new century.
Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst and author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know Kilcullen's Accidental Guerrilla is a perceptive, argumentative handbook on how to fix a problem. [...] His argument is that while 'there is a global enemy', it amounts to 'only 2 per cent to 5 per cent of the people we've been fighting since 9/11'. Many of the others are 'Accidental terrorists', provoked into retaliation by intrusion into their territory or disputes. [...] His strength is in knowledge of the different enemies and their motivation, and it is his case that without understanding those subtleties, the battle is lost.
The Times This book is essential.... Kilcullen skillfully interprets the future of counterinsurgency, the proper use of military force and what we must learn from our losses and mistakes. After reading The Accidental Guerrilla, one is left to wonder why the pentagon did not listen to his sage advice back in 2003.
New York Times Book Review Kilcullen's influence on how the U.S. military thought about counterinsurgency campaigning cannot be overstated.
Thomas E. Ricks, author of The Gamble and Fiasco There are some standard texts on [counterinsurgency]. The Accidental Guerrilla is sure to become one.
The Wall Street Journal
The Economist At the heart of this significant book is the author's declaration that terrorism cannot be addressed by military means alone: that for American or British soldiers merely to kill insurgents is meaningless. He urges policies based upon securing and succouring populations, not on enemy body counts. . . . Kilcullen is an influential man. A former Australian army officer, he became a key adviser to General David Petraeus and then Condoleezza Rice's principal counter-terrorist strategist at the State Department. His book synthesises lessons that America has learnt by bitter experience and that, hopefully, will continue to influence its politics in the Obama era. . . Almost everything the author says makes sense. His work reflects wisdom purchased by eight years of western military and political folly.
Max Hastings, The Sunday Times This book should be required reading for anyone involved in the war on terror. Kilcullen's central concept of the 'accidental guerrilla' is brilliant and the policy prescriptions that flow from it important. And that's not all; the book has many more insights drawn from various battlefields.
Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek David Kilcullen's Accidental Guerrilla is a richly reported and well written account of the new way of war of the twenty-first century; how those small wars will differ from previous conflicts and what they have in common with past insurgencies and counterinsurgencies. Analytically very sharp and also an engrossing read, Kilcullen's book is destined to become a classic study of warfare in our new century.
Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst and author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know Kilcullen's Accidental Guerrilla is a perceptive, argumentative handbook on how to fix a problem. [...] His argument is that while 'there is a global enemy', it amounts to 'only 2 per cent to 5 per cent of the people we've been fighting since 9/11'. Many of the others are 'Accidental terrorists', provoked into retaliation by intrusion into their territory or disputes. [...] His strength is in knowledge of the different enemies and their motivation, and it is his case that without understanding those subtleties, the battle is lost.
The Times This book is essential.... Kilcullen skillfully interprets the future of counterinsurgency, the proper use of military force and what we must learn from our losses and mistakes. After reading The Accidental Guerrilla, one is left to wonder why the pentagon did not listen to his sage advice back in 2003.
New York Times Book Review Kilcullen's influence on how the U.S. military thought about counterinsurgency campaigning cannot be overstated.
Thomas E. Ricks, author of The Gamble and Fiasco There are some standard texts on [counterinsurgency]. The Accidental Guerrilla is sure to become one.
The Wall Street Journal