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

Quote of the day: Gen. Mattis’ reading list, and why he looks more to the East

“Colin Gray from the University of Reading is the most near-faultless strategist alive."

1024px-inscribed_bamboo-slips_of_art_of_war
1024px-inscribed_bamboo-slips_of_art_of_war

 

 

Military History asked him what he reads. His answer:

“Colin Gray from the University of Reading is the most near-faultless strategist alive. Then there’s Sir Hew Strachan from Oxford, and Williamson Murray, the American. Those three are probably the leading present-day military theorists. You’ve got to know Sun-tzu and Carl von Clausewitz, of course. The Army was always big on Clausewitz, the Prussian; the Navy on Alfred Thayer Mahan, the American; and the Air Force on Giulio Douhet, the Italian. But the Marine Corps has always been more Eastern-oriented. I am much more comfortable with Sun-tzu and his approach to warfare.”

University of California, Riverside/Wikimedia Commons

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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