The Military Reading Room - History, Strategy, and Insight

The Military Reading Room - History, Strategy, and Insight

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Book Reviews

Project Maven: More Than The Dawn of AI Warfare
Katrina Manson's remarkable inside account of how visionary leadership, a small team, and the crucible of combat launched the Pentagon into the…
 • Phil Gentile
Rediscovering General George Marshall
David Roll's masterful biography reveals how Marshall's character, selfless service and strategic leadership shaped the American century.
 • Phil Gentile
Beyond the Outpost: The Ground View of a Combat Leader in Afghanistan
From platoon leader to intelligence officer, this wartime diary traces the growth of a leader shaped by mission, loss, and responsibility.
 • Phil Gentile
The Fourth Intelligence Revolution
Why Anthony Vinci Argues Espionage and Citizenship Must Adapt to the Information Age
 • Phil Gentile
Washington’s Marines and the Birth of the Corps
How the Marine Corps’ Revolutionary War origins shaped its enduring warfighting ethos
 • Phil Gentile
Gladwell’s “The Bomber Mafia” and the Evolution of Strategic Airpower
A sweeping look at the evolution of strategic bombing during World War II, culminating in the Pacific air war that reshaped the trajectory of airpower.
 • Phil Gentile
First to Fight: The Story Behind Today’s Marine Corps
On the Marine Corps’ 250th Birthday, Victor “Brute” Krulak’s classic reveals how innovation, integrity, and institutional grit forged the Corps—and why…
 • Phil Gentile
Before 9/11, There Was Beirut - The First Salvo in a New War
On the 42nd anniversary of the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing, Targeted: Beirut revisits a moment of sacrifice and shock that marked the start of…
 • Phil Gentile
Evans Carlson’s China Years and the Birth of Marine Raiders
A review of Stephen Platt’s The Raider, chronicling Evans Carlson’s journey from Mao’s army to the Pacific front and shaping tactics still influencing…
 • Nicholas Reynolds and Sara
Unremitting: War in the Streets of Ramadi
A Marine Battalion's 2004 Story of Resiliency in Iraq's Urban Combat; Lessons for Policymakers and Leadership, and the Enduring Human Cost of War.
 • Phil Gentile
Enola Gay: What it Took to Drop the Bomb
The forgotten story of how the 509th Composite Group trained, planned, and delivered the world’s first nuclear strike.
 • Phil Gentile
The Unvanquished: Civil War Scouts and the Birth of Special Operations
An overlooked chapter of history connects the tactics of Mosby’s Raiders and Jessie Scouts to modern asymmetric warfare
 • David Gran
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