Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Reading Ralph Peters

Ralph Peters, the novelist and commentator, has cranked off a lot of people lately, but his writing packs unusual muzzle velocity, so he sure doesn’t need me to defend him here. One thing I admire about Ralph is that he doesn’t treat life like a popularity contest. Over the past few years he has pissed ...

579713_091008_RicksPeters2.jpg
579713_091008_RicksPeters2.jpg

Ralph Peters, the novelist and commentator, has cranked off a lot of people lately, but his writing packs unusual muzzle velocity, so he sure doesn't need me to defend him here.

Ralph Peters, the novelist and commentator, has cranked off a lot of people lately, but his writing packs unusual muzzle velocity, so he sure doesn’t need me to defend him here.

One thing I admire about Ralph is that he doesn’t treat life like a popularity contest. Over the past few years he has pissed off a lot of liberals, but in this new novel, The War After Armageddon, he swivels his heavy artillery to aim at, among other things, the religious right and its influence inside the U.S. military. I just started it but am enjoying it enormously. I can’t figure out where he is going with it, because there are two plots: Whether we can get out of the mess he envisions, and a hidden backstory about how it came to be. Nor can I discern what he has against Simon de Monfort, the rebellious 13th century Earl of Leicester.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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