Priyanko Paul's Reviews > Strategy Strikes Back: How Star Wars Explains Modern Military Conflict

I had a bad feeling about this when the opening chapter, written by General McChrystal, refers to the saga as "Stars Wars." I wish I had trusted my instincts.

The book veers between shallow quotes of the Star Wars saga and a particularly embarrassing genus of military-focused fanfiction. I believe most of the egregious errors in lore and tone lie at the feet of the editor. One chapter posits that the Empire's fleet strategy failed because it lacked mid and small-sized picket or patrol ships (it didn't.) Another castigates the Rebel leadership for lacking a set of professionalized ground forces (they didn't.) I am almost impressed that the volume, which mixes new canon and Expanded Universe content with almost gleeful abandon, managed to go over 200 pages without a mention of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

While its treatment of the Star Wars saga is shallow and disappointing, the references to well-known real world military thinkers such as Clausewitz, Mahan, and von Moltke the Younger are decently well-deployed. However, this doesn't do enough to endear me to the collection.