Goliath: Why The West Isn'T Winning. And What We Must Do Abo

'An important book' SIR RICHARD DEARLOVE, FORMER DIRECTOR, MI6

'The Freakonomics of modern warfare' CONN IGGULDEN


Everything you think you know about war is wrong.

War is timeless. Some things change - weapons, tactics, leadership - but our desire to go into battle does not. We are in the midst of an age of conflict: global terrorism, Russia's resurgence and China's rise, international criminal empires, climate change and dwindling natural resources.

The stakes are high, and we are dangerously unprepared.

As a former paratrooper and military contractor, Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts. He has seen firsthand the horrors of battle and as a strategist, understands the complexity of the current military situation.

The West is playing the same old war games, but the enemy has changed the rules. In this new age of war:

-technology will not save us,
-victory will belong to the cunning, not the strong,
-plausible deniability is more potent than firepower
-corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power than nation states, and loyalty will sit with the highest bidder.

Learn how to triumph in the coming age of conflict in ten new rules. Adapt and we can prevail. Fail, and size and strength won't protect us.

This is The Art of War for the 21st century.

Review: The Freakonomics of modern warfare * Conn Iggulden *
An important book * Sir Richard Dearlove, former Director of MI6 *
Lively and provocative ... laced with examples from the history of conflict as well as his own career as a soldier * Sir Lawrence Freedman *
A thought-provoking book. Sean McFate has admirably captured the challenges we face with an evolving character of warfare. Technology and the pervasiveness of information have blurred the distinction between peace and war and have opened up seams that our opponents are ruthlessly exploiting, utilising weapons that don't need to go bang -- General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff
Thought-provoking. Sean McFate puts his finger on key issues for Western security * Jonathan Evans, former head of MI5 *
His iconoclastic book is being hailed by radicals as a wake-up call to governments and armed forces everywhere, to stop doing all the wrong things; to start doing a few right ones . . . Some of what he says makes more sense than much of what comes out of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence * Max Hastings, Sunday Times *
Radical thoughts on the West's approach to modern warfare * Sunday Times, Must Reads *
A well-crafted indictment of The West's failure to keep pace with the changing face of warfare. The soldier is taught to improvise, adapt, and overcome. In Goliath, Sean McFate shows The West how it can do the same
A fascinating and disturbing book * Economist *
Essential Reading -- General Stanley McChrystal
Stunning. McFate is the new Sun Tzu -- Admiral James Stavridis
McFate understands his subject from the inside... excellent -- General Sir Rupert Smith
My summer surprise - the sharpest account of the dilemmas of war and peace I've read for years * Robert Fox, Evening Standard *
Why do western powers keep getting beaten when they go to war? This hard-hitting polemic by a former US paratrooper explains why - we are addicted to expensive, big tech that is useless against guerillas. Sean McFate's suggestion that western powers make greater use of mercenaries is interesting * The Times, 100 Best Books for Summer *
Brilliantly eccentric * Robert Fox, Evening Standard *

Author Biography: SEAN McFATE is a Professor of Strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, in Washington DC. He served as a paratrooper in the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division and then worked for a major private military corporation, where he ran operations similar to those in his novels Shadow War and Deep Black. He is the author of The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order, and holds a BA from Brown University, an MA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He lives with his family in Washington, DC. You can learn more at www.seanmcfate.com.