“Invites comparison with Crane’s Red Badge of Courage . . . Ithink this is an even better book.”—The New York Times When you read this novel about April 19, 1775, you will see the British redcoats marching in a solid column through your town. Your hands will be sweating and you will shake a little as you grip your musket because never have you shot with the aim of killing a man. But you will shoot, and shoot again and again while your shoulder aches from your musket’s kick and the tight, disciplined red column bleeds and wavers and breaks and you begin to shout at the top of your lungs because you are there, at the birth of freedom—you're a veteran of the Battle of Lexington, and you’ve helped whip the King’s best soldiers...

"War is the most important thing in the world', writes Martin van Creveld, one of the world's best-known experts on military history and strategy. The survival of every country, government, and individual is ultimately dependent on war - or the ability to wage it in self-defence. That is why, though it may come but once in a hundred years, it must be prepared for every day. When it is too late - when the bodies lie stiff and people weep over them - those in charge have failed in their duty. Nevertheless, in spite of the centrality of war to human history and culture, there has for long been no modern attempt to provide a replacement for the classics on war and strategy, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, dating from the 5th or 6th century BC, and Carl von Clausewitz's On War, written in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. What is needed is a modern, comprehensive, easy to read and understand theory of war for the 21st century that could serve as a replacement for these classic texts. The purpose of the present book is to provide just such a theory.--Book flap

Nearly 40 years ago, contemplating a dogfight between Israeli and Syrian jets, Shimon Tzabar got to thinking about how war works. The result is a crystal-clear, at times funny inversion of such classics as Sun-Tzu's The Art of War. Readers find the facts on why often — almost always, in major conflicts throughout history — victory is not all it's cracked up to be. Practical advice is offered as well, such as what to do if you're in danger of winning, and how to surrender in the midst of a firefight.