This is a most interesting and useful book that has been somewhat handicapped by the author’s overly blatant polemical distaste for Donald Trump.
That aside, though, it is full of interesting information about very modern warfare that is mainly presented in a very readable anecdotal form.
The content is about as recent as it is possible to be in printed book format and is globally wide-ranging in scope.
Obviously, the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the predicted one between China and Taiwan are at the fore. The technological advances inspired by those conflicts seem to appear almost daily and the author is closely in touch with them.
While the content is global, the author is an American so his inside knowledge of the technical genius that is so common in the United States is particularly good.
His comments on the pre-Trump disdain of America's Silicon Valley-centred tech industry for dealings with government, and particularly the Department of Defense (now Department of War), is unsurprising. However, his explanation of the reasons for that disdain is clear and rational.
Much the same situation applies in all western developed nations. Prophets, it seems, are always without honour in their own lands. That is, until they are very urgently needed.
The Ukraine War, obviously, has changed so much in way of warfare, and much of that change has been driven by comparatively small businesses backing a desperate military. As always, the innovation, imagination and inspiration for modern military technology generally eludes the generals and the so-called defence “primes” until it is almost too late.
Those who need to know about modern weaponry and how it is developed, manufactured, and distributed cannot afford to be without this book.
Author: Steve Feldstein
Available from Octopus Publishing Group, London, UK