A military historian and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Boot (The Savage Wars of Peace) presents a sweeping, well-written, and comprehensively documented history of guerilla war. For Boot, guerrilla warfare and terrorism are distinct but synergistically linked. Terrorism is the use of violence, primarily by nonstate actors, against noncombatants. Guerrilla, which means "little war," is the organized use of hit-and run tactics against governments. What they have in common is their use by fighters "too weak to employ conventional methods," although these unconventional methods may have higher prospects of success. Boot begins by tracing their roots, from prehistoric tribal war to the medieval grappling on the Anglo-Scottish frontier. He goes on to address terrorism and guerrilla warfare through the centuries and around the world, from medieval assassins to irregulars' operations during 19th century the liberal European revolutions between the 1770s and to the 1880s to guerrilla movements generated by imperialism, terrorism, from the medieval Assassins to the IRA, and guerrilla operations in the world wars. He concludes with an analysis of national liberation movements, recent Leftist revolutionary upheavals and Islamic terror. The result is a compelling narrative and perceptive analysis: a must read in today's world. Agent: Glen Hartley and Lynn Chu, Writers' Representatives. (Jan.)
"In his encyclopedic history of guerrilla warfare, Max Boot, a military analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, makes a crucial observation: that [guerrilla warfare] has been a far more enduring feature of conflict than many realize… [An] important survey…. Nicely drawn portraits of the leading figures in the insurgents’ pantheon—Giuseppe Garibaldi, T.E. Lawrence, Orde Wingate, Mao Zedong."
Financial Times - James Blitz
"Boot is an elegant writer …. Invisible Armies is a timely book."
National Review - Mackubin Thomas Owens
"Max Boot is an ideal guide to offer such a timely and, in some ways, reassuring history of guerilla warfare.... A considerable achievement that will ensure Invisible Armies remains a valuable scholarly research tool as well as popular history…. Boot is concerned with neither a morality tale nor politics, but in conducting a disinterested examination of a method of war that is still poorly understood, yet increasingly relevant to our own security…. Boot’s formal findings may startle…. [A] magisterial study."
The New Criterion - Victor Davis Hanson
"[A] rich and enthralling history of guerrilla warfare."
"[B]rilliantly sums up the lessons of the centuries."
The Wilson Quarterly - Martin Walker
"Max Boot’s alternative military history is so marvelously readable because every section—and there are many in this epic of 750 pages—is moved along by a vividly pictured zealot, mass murderer, mini-murderer, tactician, partisan, general, king—as well as the weary survivors of battles, wars, massacres, atrocities."
Business Week - Manueala Hoelterhoff
"Lively.... A timely reminder to politicians and generals of the hard-earned lessons of history."
"...[I]mpressively researched, astutely synthesized, and eminently readable."
"The most definitive and comprehensive work to date on the dominant form of warfare of our times. A must read for scholars, military and government professionals and a fascinating journey for the general public."
General (ret.) Jack Keane
"This is the definitive treatment of guerrilla warfare through the ages—a tour de force by a preeminent military historian who has advised generals, policymakers and political leaders on the subject."
"Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Savage Wars of Peace , presents an astutely synthesized account of insurgency and counterinsurgency through the ages—from the Peloponnesian War to the post-Sept. 11 battlefields of today."
New York Times - Ihsan Taylor
"Enormous, brilliant, and important...should be required reading in the White House and Pentagon.... Lucid, enlightening, and highly readable."
The Daily Beast - Michael Korda
"[C]ool and balanced."
The New Statesman - John Gray
"[D]estined to be the classic account of what may be the oldest as well as the hardest form of war."
The Wall Street Journal - John Nagl
"A sweeping panorama that ranges over a vast terrain... thoughtful, smart, fluent, with an eye for the good story."
Front Page Review Mark Mazover
"The word “magisterial” is bandied about far too freely these days, but in the case of Max Boot’s sweeping and deeply researched history of guerrilla warfare, it proves fair. Somewhere in the first third of Boot’s book, you begin to realize that guerrilla wars (and terrorism and insurgencies) are the way we fight, while the formal set battles of, say, the Napoleonic wars are but an exception."
The Daily Beast - Lucas Wittmann
"Sweeping, meticulous, and exceptionally thoughtful. Max Boot's Invisible Armies is an important, compelling contribution to our understanding of how men make war."
"A penetrating writer and thinker."
"Fascinating. . . . Beginning with the barbarians at the gates of the Roman Empire, a wonderful and valuable historic narrative filled with colorful characters."
"[A] comprehensive history of guerrilla warfare, breezily written and chock-full of perceptive insights.... [Boot] has a great feel for details...a mighty impressive achievement, one that should be a bible for policymakers everywhere in the civilized world."
"There’s no better guide to both the past and the future than Invisible Armies , the tour de force of a scholar as well as a man who’s seen American adversaries and soldiers at work up close."
"A landmark book about a perennial and important challenge: guerilla warfare."
"For the historian and journalist Max Boot to use the phrase ‘an epic history’ in the subtitle of his own book implies a magnificent lack of modesty in his own capabilities. The work more than matches the hype…. This pathbreaking book should thus be on the reading list of every NATO officer hoping to defeat an insurgency."
Commentary - Andrew Roberts
"A sweeping panorama that ranges over a vast terrain... thoughtful, smart, fluent, with an eye for the good story."
New York Times Book Review, Front Page Review - Mark Mazover
"[A] comprehensive history of guerrilla warfare, breezily written and chock-full of perceptive insights.... [Boot] has a great feel for details...a mighty impressive achievement, one that should be a bible for policymakers everywhere in the civilized world."
Forbes Magazine - Steve Forbes
"A landmark book about a perennial and important challenge: guerilla warfare."
Wall Street Journal contributor and Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Boot (War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History: 1500 to Today , 2006, etc.) follows the long, quirky history of insurgency, from Bar Kokhba to Bin Laden. The slippery definition of guerrillas (Spanish for "little wars") underscores the challenging task faced by the author. In this systematic though not always chronological study, Boot examines how guerrilla forces have always "employ[ed] stealth, surprise and rapid movement to harass, ambush, massacre, and terrorize their enemies while trying to minimize their own casualties through rapid retreat," tactics that have proven highly effective throughout history, especially as the fight moved into the realm of winning public opinion. The author divides his narrative into various epochs, beginning in Mesopotamia and continuing through the long-running struggle against the Roman Empire, warfare in China around the time of Sun Tzu, the centuries of battles between England and Scotland, the Haitian and Greek wars for independence, the struggle for Italian unification, the ascent of Mao Zedong and present-day battles with terrorist organizations. He also examines the many examples of guerrilla warfare in America, including the revolution against Britain, the "forest wars" of the eastern U.S., the battles of the Ku Klux Klan and civil rights agitators. The creation of the "guerrilla mystique" in the 1960s and '70s, thanks to Castro, Guevara and Arafat, emphasized radical ideology as the guerrilla motivation, paving the way for the next deadly wave by parties of God, jihadists and suicide bombers. An expansive nuts-and-bolts historical survey from a keen military mind.
