FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Monday, October 26, 2015

General FAO Reading List

I have a much broader FAO reading list broken down by location/themes here.

GENERAL

A Force More Powerful by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall.




Force and Statecraft by Gordon A. Craig and Alexander L. George



Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond.  Posits the strong influence of geography on development.


Making War and Building Peace: U.N. Peace Operations by Doyle and Sambanis, 2006.   Statistical analysis of trends leading to success and failure in Peace operations.

*Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes.  My review on Amazon is available here and my full FUUO review is available here.  My two sentence summary:  We spend a disproportionate amount of time studying the facts, tactics, techniques and history of wars. I add this novel to my "must read for FAOs" list because it adds something missing: CONTEXT and TEXTURE.


Stillwell and the American Experience in China by Barbara Tuchman.  Recommended by Hoyawolf:
Perhaps the consummate soldier/diplomat who went from Attaché to Theater Commander in WWII.



*The Diplomat’s Dictionary by Chas W. Freeman, Jr.

The Future of Power by Joseph Nye, 2011.  


*The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

The Ugly American by William J. Lederer


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