Call to Action: Strategy Strikes Back

Posted on April 08,2019

To launch the new Gazette Blog as a “warfighters book club” the Commanding General of Training and Education Command, MajGen William F. Mullen issues the first call to action.

Read and comment on the following book. Whether you enjoy and endorse the book or not, add your original thoughts to the posts on the Gazette Blog.

Strategy Strikes Back: How Star Wars Explains Modern Military Conflict

Edited by Max Brooks, John Amble, ML Cavanaugh, Jaym Gates

U of Nebraska Press, 2018

Beyond its place as the single most successful film franchise in history, Star Wars has become an integral part of modern popular culture. The ongoing saga describes a galactic conflict of epic proportions fought across generations of characters and multiple planets and star systems. Strategy Strikes Back is a collection of essays from a diverse group of strategy, policy and warfighting experts including academics, general/flag officers, diplomats, sci-fi authors and “boots on the ground” war correspondents and operators.

The book examines the theory and nature of war, policy and strategy through the lens of Star Wars and provides insights into the most complex issues of ends, ways and means in a relatable and imaginative manner. As a collection of essays, topics range broadly from failures in nation-building and conflict resolution (“The Case for Planet Building on Endor” by Max Brooks) to the strategic utility of force projection (“Why We Need Space Marines” by Major B. A. Friedman, USMCR) to the importance of controlling the narrative in an insurgency (“Dispatch from Hoth: When the Blood Runs Cold” by August Cole).

Any student of military strategy with a rudimentary understanding of the Star Wars films and narrative – even those who don’t enjoy science fiction and fantasy – will gain new understanding of military conflict and may also learn a new way of communicating war’s complex theory and nature with non-military laymen.