Elbridge A. Colby is cofounder and principal of The Marathon Initiative. He served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 through 2018, during which he led the development of the 2018 National Defense Strategy.
“Colby, the lead architect of the 2018 National Defense Strategy,
here lays out—realistically, concretely and in plain-spoken
American English—how Washington must act decisively to check
Beijing’s growing power and ambition.”—Wall Street Journal, “Ten
Best Books of 2021”
“Rigorously argued and compelling. . . . This book will define the
basis for future debate about U.S. defense strategy in Asia. . . .
Mr. Colby earns a place as an intellectual heir to the Cold War
strategists who thought seriously about how to thwart Soviet
designs. . . . [He] is courageous in forcing readers to think
concretely about the unthinkable. . . . The task of deterring
Chinese aggression is urgent, and Mr. Colby’s book presents a
needed path forward.”—Dan Blumenthal, Wall Street Journal
“What to do about China’s rising might and territorial ambition?
Brilliant strategist Elbridge Colby takes on this vexing and
increasingly urgent challenge with a clear-eyed, forceful but
carefully thought-out approach. Cogently, lucidly, he uses the
lessons of history to show that the best way to avoid war is to
prepare for war.”—Evan Thomas, coauthor of The Wise Men: Six
Friends and the World They Made
“Colby’s well-crafted and insightful Strategy of Denial provides a
superb and, one suspects, essential departure point for an urgent
and much-needed debate over U.S. defense strategy.“—Andrew F.
Krepinevich, Jr., Foreign Affairs
“An exceptional book. Elbridge Colby has written a book on defense
strategy that reaches a level of theoretical mastery akin to Hans
Morgenthau’s Politics Among Nations. There is no better guidebook
to how we should think about war and peace in this new age of great
power competition.”—Robert D. Kaplan, author of Asia’s Cauldron
“This is a realist’s book, laser-focused on China’s bid for mastery
in Asia as the 21st century’s most important threat.”—Ross Douthat,
New York Times
“Anyone interested in US strategy should read this tour de force
from the primary author of the celebrated 2018 U.S. National
Defense Strategy. This well-written, masterfully constructed,
logically compelling book conveys the essence of strategy from one
of the best current practitioners of the trade. Highly
recommended!”—Robert O. Work, former Deputy Secretary of
Defense
“Elbridge Colby has written an outstanding book. For anyone
interested in understanding what a possible war between China and
the United States might look like, The Strategy of Denial is the
place to start. It is analytically rigorous, well-informed, and
filled with interesting and smart insights.”—John Mearsheimer,
author of The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International
Realities
“Succeeds brilliantly in the task of building a broad strategic
framework—one that is actually new—for how to think about America’s
defense in the face of a rising China. . . . The Chinese military
are going to translate and classify this book—if they haven’t
already.”—Michael Pillsbury, senior fellow and director for Chinese
Strategy, Hudson Institute
“This is an incredibly important book. . . . The definitive work on
U.S. defense strategy that should guide our strategic competition
with China for the years to come.”—Christian Brose, author of The
Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech
Warfare
“There are many ways to lose wars or win them, but only one way to
avoid them: to envision closely enough the dangers to be averted by
deterrence or defense. This book brings together pure intellect,
wide knowledge, and practical experience to show how U.S. defense
strategy must change—and fast.”—Edward Luttwak, author of The Rise
of China vs. the Logic of Strategy
“As experts continue to warn of a potential Chinese invasion of
Taiwan within the decade, denying such an invasion must be our top
defense-planning priority. Mr. Colby spells out what we need to do
in order to deter—and if necessary, win—a war over Taiwan. . . . An
essential read.”—Mike Gallagher, U.S. House of Representatives,
Wisconsin, “Who Read What: Political Figures Share Their Favorite
Books of 2021”
“[A] brilliant . . . book on how to deal with the geopolitical and
military threat from China. Will be much discussed and constantly
referred to as we grapple with this challenge.”—Rich Lowry, editor
of National Review (via Twitter)
“The Strategy of Denial is an excellent book and a very important
one. Fundamentally, it’s not an argument about ‘global stability’ .
. . but rather that we need to think about defense strategy in
terms of regions in order to achieve political objectives.”—Nadia
Schadlow, senior fellow, Hudson Institute
“Colby gives us an original and provocative approach to containing
adversaries, especially China. . . . [D]istinguished by its moving
seamlessly from international relations theory to detailed
questions of diplomacy and force deployment.”—Robert Jervis, author
of How Statesmen Think
“The book is just a marvel of analytic clarity and of ruthless
logic . . . a true pleasure to read . . . [and] a marvel of clear
argumentation and deductive reasoning. . . . [It] cuts through a
lot of politics and uncertainty in a really helpful way.”—Jennifer
Lind, Dartmouth College
“I suppose there are others who could have written such a book, but
they didn’t, at least not with such mastery of analysis. I think
I’ve read most [of the] worthwhile books on U.S. defense strategy
that have appeared in the last two decades, but I’ve rarely come
across one that has the intellectual rigor, the systematicity of
analysis, and the sheer ruthlessness of logical reasoning—not to
mention the erudition—found in The Strategy of Denial.”—Ashley J.
Tellis, senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace
“An engaging, vigorously argued and refreshingly readable case for
a U.S. strategy focused on deterring China to reduce the danger of
war.”—Doyle McManus, Washington columnist, Los Angeles Times
“Thoughtful and rigorous. . . . Makes an extended case for
curtailing other commitments to focus on China. . . . The book’s
fundamental strength . . . is Colby’s willingness to test all sides
of complicated debates. . . . Required reading for lawmakers,
national security hands, and 2024 presidential hopefuls.”—Adam
O’Neal, Washington Examiner
“Exceptionally well-thought out. . . . A well-argued . . . case for
why the United States should care about Beijing’s aggression in the
Indo-Pacific region. . . . Its arguments are both self-evident and
well explained [and] it is thoroughly enjoyable to read.”—Joshua
Huminski, Diplomatic Courier
“This is a book well worth reading, packed with fresh
paradigm-cracking ideas, breaking all the china in thinking how to
handle China.”—James Jay Carafano, National Interest
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