Strategy

In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz, the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx, the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan, and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy, the author notes, is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again, Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment-subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends-provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, but instead feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point, not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history, from David's use of deception against Goliath, to the modern use of game theory in economics, this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy.
"A marvelous grand tour of the meaning, implications, and consequences of strategic thinking through the ages and in multiple contexts. Freedman is a master of the subject and unsurpassed in his ability to unravel the twists and turns of strategic complexities and paradoxes." --Robert Jervis, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics, Columbia University

"Lawrence Freedman shows here why he is justly renowned as one of the world's leading thinkers about strategy, which he defines as the central art of getting more out of a situation than the starting balance of power would suggest." --Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University and author of The Futureof Power

DEDICATION ; PREFACE ; PART I ORIGINS ; 1 ORIGINS 1: EVOLUTION ; 2 ORIGINS 2: THE BIBLE ; 3 ORIGINS 3: THE GREEKS ; 4 SUN TZU AND MACHIAVELLI ; 5 SATAN'S STRATEGY ; PART II STRATEGIES OF FORCE ; 6 THE NEW SCIENCE OF STRATEGY ; 7 CLAUSEWITZ ; 8 THE FALSE SCIENCE ; 9 ANNIHILATION OR EXHAUSTION ; 10 BRAIN AND BRAWN ; 11 THE INDIRECT APPROACH ; 12 NUCLEAR GAMES ; 13 THE RATIONALITY OF IRRATIONALITY ; 14 GUERRILLA WARFARE ; 15 OBSERVATION AND ORIENTATION ; 16 THE REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRS ; 17 THE MYTH OF THE MASTER STRATEGIST ; PART III STRATEGY FROM BELOW ; 18 MARX AND A STRATEGY FOR THE WORKING CLASS ; 19 HERZEN AND BAKUNIN ; 20 REVISIONISTS AND VANGUARDS ; 21 BUREAUCRATS, DEMOCRATS, AND ELITES ; 22 FORMULAS, MYTHS, AND PROPAGANDA ; 23 THE POWER OF NONVIOLENCE ; 24 EXISTENTIAL STRATEGY ; 25 BLACK POWER AND WHITE ANGER ; 26 FRAMES, PARADIGMS, DISCOURSES, AND NARRATIVES ; 27 RACE, RELIGION, AND ELECTIONS ; PART IV STRATEGY FROM ABOVE ; 28 THE RISE OF THE MANAGEMENT CLASS ; 29 THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS ; 30 MANAGEMENT STRATEGY ; 31 BUSINESS AS WAR ; 32 THE RISE OF ECONOMICS ; 33 RED QUEENS AND BLUE OCEANS ; 34 THE SOCIOLOGICAL CHALLENGE ; 35 DELIBERATE OR EMERGENT ; PART V THEORIES OF STRATEGY ; 36 THE LIMITS OF RATIONAL CHOICE ; 37 BEYOND RATIONAL CHOICE ; 38 STORIES AND SCRIPTS ; 37 BEYOND RATIONAL CHOICE ; 38 STORIES AND SCRIPTS ; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS