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mburnamfink's review against another edition
3.0
This is a short book that neatly balances the hagiographic approach (Coram-The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War) and the intellectual history (Osinga-Science, Strategy, and War). Having read a bunch of Boyd books recently, I'd say that this one is probably the best primer.
However, it doesn't quite live up to the subtitle. Daniel Ford has a fascinating personal background; a Korean War veteran and Vietnam War reporter for the left-leaning The Nation who in his 70s took a Masters in War Studies at King's College London with a bunch of British officers. With that, I was hoping for some kind of personal yet synoptic perspective that would apply the theories of John Boyd to the realities of counter-insurgency warfare in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Instead, Ford remains over the surface of the topic, producing a work that is pretty much what you would expect from a basic familiarity with John Boyd and the headlines coming out of the wars. This feels like chapters 1 and 2 of a much better book, and I hope that Ford finds time to finish it.
However, it doesn't quite live up to the subtitle. Daniel Ford has a fascinating personal background; a Korean War veteran and Vietnam War reporter for the left-leaning The Nation who in his 70s took a Masters in War Studies at King's College London with a bunch of British officers. With that, I was hoping for some kind of personal yet synoptic perspective that would apply the theories of John Boyd to the realities of counter-insurgency warfare in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Instead, Ford remains over the surface of the topic, producing a work that is pretty much what you would expect from a basic familiarity with John Boyd and the headlines coming out of the wars. This feels like chapters 1 and 2 of a much better book, and I hope that Ford finds time to finish it.
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