A Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus, Kilcullen's vision of war dramatically influenced America's decision to rethink its military strategy in Iraq. Now, in "The Accidental Guerrilla," Kilcullen provides a remarkably fresh perspective on the War on Terror.

Reviews

If you have regular customers who are military types, then The Accidental Guerilla is unlikely to be a hard sell. Indeed, they may already be familiar with David Kilcullen's reputation as a very senior and respected former Australian army officer. For the rest of your customers, The Accidental Guerilla may need more careful placement. Kilcullen's book is pretty dense and-unsurprisingly for a book about military tactics-is heavy on the acronyms. However, this decidedly non-military reader was very engaged by Kilcullen's reports of time spent on the ground in various war-torn parts of the world and his erudite analysis of what works and what doesn't when engaging in modern warfare. I've come out of reading the book with a much clearer picture of what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan than years of reading on the topic has provided. To Kilcullen, counterinsurgency-smaller, ongoing skirmishes with various involved parties who may have different motivations-is modern warfare. The density of information did take some getting used to, but Kilcullen's written style overcomes any issues. For your customers who are engaged with modern geopolitics and have an interest in serious analysis of current affairs, The Accidental Guerilla may just be perfect. Eliza Metcalfe is a freelance writer and editor