Gordon's book reveals an impressive mastery of the archival and secondary sources available on the subject. His writing is crisp and interesting, yet sober and scholarly at the same time. The daring and resourceful men of the British desert forces have found a historian whose ability to tell their story matches their ability to create some of the most daring and imaginative operations of World War II. This is an extraordinary book about extraordinary soldiers. Military Review

From the Renaissance to the Cold War, the definitive survey of the social, political, military, and technological aspects of modern warfare returns to print in a new paperback edition. Topics include land and sea warfare from the Renaissance to the neoclassical age; the Anglo-American military tradition; the French Revolution and Napoleon; the Industrial Revolution and war; and the First and Second World Wars and their aftermath.