The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict

Product Description
Why and how America’s defense strategy must change in light of China’s power and ambition—A Wall Street Journal best book of 2021\n“This is a realist’s book, laser-focused on China’s bid for mastery in Asia as the 21st century’s most important threat.”—Ross Douthat,
New York Times\n“Colby’s well-crafted and insightful Strategy of Denial provides a superb and, one suspects, essential departure point for an urgent and much-needed debate over U.S. defense strategy.”—Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., Foreign Affairs\nElbridge A. Colby was the lead architect of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, the most significant revision of U.S. defense strategy in a generation. Here he lays out how America’s defense must change to address China’s growing power and ambition. Based firmly in the realist tradition but deeply engaged in current policy, this book offers a clear framework for what America’s goals in confronting China must be, how its military strategy must change, and how it must prioritize these goals over its lesser interests.\nThe most informed and in‑depth reappraisal of America’s defense strategy in decades, this book outlines a rigorous but practical approach, showing how the United States can prepare to win a war with China that we cannot afford to lose—precisely in order to deter that war from happening.
Review
“Rigorously argued and compelling. . . . This book will define the basis for future debate about U.S. defense strategy in Asia. . . . Mr. Colby earns a place as an intellectual heir to the Cold War strategists who thought seriously about how to thwart Soviet designs. . . . [He] is courageous in forcing readers to think concretely about the unthinkable. . . . The task of deterring Chinese aggression is urgent, and Mr. Colby’s book presents a needed path forward.”—Dan Blumenthal,
Wall Street Journal\n"What to do about China’s rising might and territorial ambition? Brilliant strategist Elbridge Colby takes on this vexing and increasingly urgent challenge with a clear-eyed, forceful but carefully thought-out approach. Cogently, lucidly, he uses the lessons of history to show that the best way to avoid war is to prepare for war."—Evan Thomas, co-author of
The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made\n“Colby’s well-crafted and insightful
Strategy of Denial provides a superb and, one suspects, essential departure point for an urgent and much-needed debate over U.S. defense strategy.“—Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr.,
Foreign Affairs\n“An exceptional book. Elbridge Colby has written a book on defense strategy that reaches a level of theoretical mastery akin to Hans Morgenthau’s
Politics Among Nations. There is no better guidebook to how we should think about war and peace in this new age of great power competition.”—Robert D. Kaplan, author of
Asia’s Cauldron\n“This is a realist’s book, laser-focused on China’s bid for mastery in Asia as the 21st century’s most important threat.”—Ross Douthat,
New York Times\n"Anyone interested in US strategy should read this tour de force from the primary author of the celebrated 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy. This well-written, masterfully constructed, logically compelling book conveys the essence of strategy from one of the best current practitioners of the trade. Highly recommended!"—Robert O. Work, former Deputy Secretary of Defense\n“Elbridge Colby has written an outstanding book. For anyone interested in understanding what a possible war between China and the United States might look like,
The Strategy of Denial is the place to start. It is analytically rigorous, well-informed, and filled with interesting and smart insights.”—John Mearsheimer, author of
The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities\n“Succeeds brilliantly in the task of building a broad strategic framework—one that is actually new—for how to think about America’s defense in the face of a rising China. . . . The Chinese military are going to tran