A Search for Strategic Wisdom: Guiding the Twists and Turns of US National Security Strategy

Forging national security strategies is one of the most important and difficult challenges that the U.S. government faces. In this landmark book, Dr. Richard Kugler addresses the U.S. track record in this arena over the past century. For each president, from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama, he asks whether U.S. key decisions were wise or unwise. Kugler reaches a troubling conclusion: although the United States has often acted wisely, too often it has acted unwisely in ways that have had damaging, unforeseen consequences.

Kugler starts by reviewing U.S. strategy during the decades covering WWI and WWII. He then devotes five chapters to the Cold War from the late 1940s to the 1980s. He offers four long chapters on the modern age, covering Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Along the way he provides considerable detail about the strategies of these four presidents—their successes and their mistakes. The result is an in-depth portrayal of these years that exceeds other strategy books. The book provides extensive and critical documentation in notes, bibliography, and index.

This book offers readers an excellent opportunity to learn about U.S. national security strategy and how to evaluate it.