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Sean McFate
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Goliath: What the West got Wrong about Russia and Other Rogue States Kindle Edition

by Sean McFate (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 165 ratings
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EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT WAR IS WRONG.
We are living in an age of conflict: Russia's resurgence and China's rise, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change and dwindling natural resources.

But while the West has been playing the same old war games, the enemy has a new strategy.

The rules have changed, and we are dangerously unprepared.

Former paratrooper Sean McFate has been on the front lines of conflict, and seen first-hand the horrors of battle. As a Professor of Strategy, he understands the complexity of the current military situation.

In this new age of war:

· Plausible deniability is more potent than firepower
· Russia has become a disinformation superpower, twisting the West's perception of reality
· Sanctions are blunt instruments that starve only the masses, not the elite
· Victory will belong to the cunning, not the strong
· New types of world powers will rule

Learn how to triumph in the coming age of conflict in ten new rules. Adapt and we can prevail. Fail, and size and strength won't protect us.

This is The Art of War for the 21st century.
__________

'Some of what he says makes more sense than much of what comes out of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence' Max Hastings, Sunday Times

'Thought-provoking' Johnathon Evans, Former Head of MI5

'Fascinating and disturbing' Economist

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  1. Print length
    319 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Penguin
  5. Publication date
    13 Jun. 2019
  6. File size
    1105 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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From the Publisher

Goliath West Wars

Freakonomics iggulden

Economist fascinating

Dearlove important MI6

war rules wrong

technology

victory cunning

Plausible deniability

New world powers

Art of War

Product description

Review

His iconoclastic book is being hailed by radicals as a wake-up call to governments and armed forces everywhere, to stop doing all the wrong things; to start doing a few right ones . . . Some of what he says makes more sense than much of what comes out of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence ― Max Hastings, Sunday Times

Thought-provoking. Sean McFate puts his finger on key issues for Western security ― Jonathan Evans, former head of MI5

Why do western powers keep getting beaten when they go to war? This hard-hitting polemic by a former US paratrooper explains why - we are addicted to expensive, big tech that is useless against guerillas. Sean McFate's suggestion that western powers make greater use of mercenaries is interesting ― The Times, 100 Best Books for Summer

Brilliantly eccentric ― Robert Fox, Evening Standard

McFate understands his subject from the inside... excellent -- General Sir Rupert Smith

A fascinating and disturbing book ― Economist

A thought-provoking book. Sean McFate has admirably captured the challenges we face with an evolving character of warfare. Technology and the pervasiveness of information have blurred the distinction between peace and war and have opened up seams that our opponents are ruthlessly exploiting, utilising weapons that don't need to go bang -- General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff

An important book ― Sir Richard Dearlove, former Director of MI6

My summer surprise - the sharpest account of the dilemmas of war and peace I've read for years ― Robert Fox, Evening Standard

Lively and provocative ... laced with examples from the history of conflict as well as his own career as a soldier ― Sir Lawrence Freedman

Essential Reading -- General Stanley McChrystal

The Freakonomics of modern warfare ― Conn Iggulden

A well-crafted indictment of The West's failure to keep pace with the changing face of warfare. The soldier is taught to improvise, adapt, and overcome. In Goliath, Sean McFate shows The West how it can do the same

Stunning. McFate is the new Sun Tzu -- Admiral James Stavridis

Radical thoughts on the West's approach to modern warfare ― Sunday Times, Must Reads

From the Back Cover

We are living in an age of conflict: Russia's resurgence and China's rise, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change and dwindling natural resources.

But while the West has been playing the same old war games, the enemy has a new strategy.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07KYSGPFH
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (13 Jun. 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1105 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 319 pages
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

About the author

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Sean McFate

Sean McFate

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

I’ve been a paratrooper in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. A para-military contractor. An operative in the private intelligence world (think: Wall Street meets CIA). I’ve dealt with African warlords, raised armies for U.S. interest, rode with armed groups in the Sahara, conducted strategic reconnaissance for oil companies, transacted arms deals in Eastern Europe, and helped prevent an impending genocide in the Rwanda region. In between this, I earned degrees from Brown, Harvard, and a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Now I’m an author, my favorite job by far. I write about the world as I’ve witnessed it. Unlike most, I write both serious non-fiction and fiction. What I can’t discuss in my non-fiction ends up in my novels, which are like Tom Clancy for the 2020s.

You can learn more about me here http://www.seanmcfate.com and you can follow me on twitter or Instagram @seanmcfate. I appreciate your support, and answer emails from readers.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
165 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Jaydeescuba
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 February 2024
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Arrived promptly, Fathers birthday present 🎁
Well happy with it
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Controversial as of today
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2024
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This book was probably a good pre-emptive analysis of possible conflict scenarios were it not for the war in Ukraine and in Gaza. As of today, it is a good sample of a-priori school of thinking about war scenarios, a good guess perhaps. However, in less developed geopolitical areas, kinetic aspect of conflicts remains the main one, physical confrontation and collateral damage as a means of physcolognical deterrent, among other, over cyberspace fighting.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Different Way of Viewing The World.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 June 2019
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This is an entertaining and thought provoking book, easy to read and understand by the general reader (of which I am one).

One of those books where the authors enthusiasm for his subject comes across onto the page. So well worth reading.

The author makes a strong case for there being a new type of warfare, one which the West has been slow to respond to, and which has caught us with our trousers down.

A weaker case, in my opinion, is made against continuing to invest in a conventional war fighting capability. True, conventional war hasn't produced a victory since WW2, and technology does seem to be treated, as Arthur C Clarke would say, as a form of magic, but does that remove the case for having the capability? The author weakens his case by giving us plenty of examples of how weaker opponents defeated conventional armies by unconventional means, but then makes it clear that the reason that these weaker nations had to use unconventional means was a certainty that they'd lose if they used conventional ones.

Does this make the case for dropping conventional forces, as the author seems to imply, when they define the battlefield, and force the opponents strategy? Or does it just make the case for the West working to improve it's unconventional capabilities?

As I say, thought provoking. In a good way.
14 people found this helpful
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Dr Danczak
5.0 out of 5 stars This concerns you: Post Westphalian Military responses
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 August 2019
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Without going into a long review, this sums up exactly the mess that procrastination has led to in the understanding of confrontation without going to war in the State to State sense. Disorder is commonplace and politics has crippled the effectiveness of military response, The in power military generation are in the same position as their grandchildren who understand digital comms as in Facebook and data analytics while Grandpa cannot see that the response time has passed while they are deliberating in committee.
The same committees that have provided inappropriate weapons to deal with today’s threats from “durable disorder “ a concept explained with the nimble small effective contractor overcoming the plodding state response.
One person found this helpful
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Mr RUSSELL SUGDEN
5.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 February 2020
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Concise and easy to understand with clear examples from history, how "conventional" warfare is an anomaly historically. It certainly gives food for thought
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Contentcritic
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappoints compared to the hype
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2019
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I bought this as a hardback based on good press that I had read along the lines that it was a revolutionary and innovative approach to a topic of real concern. There are some interesting ideas in here but a lot of it is rehashed old ideas and some questionable interpretations of Sun Tzu (whose work has been done to death in various quarters and no new light shone here). The author does sometimes come across as a bit too believing on his own cleverness which is not terribly evident much of the time. Worth a read as a passable generalist time but wait for the paperback, second hand.
7 people found this helpful
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Mrs Y
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2020
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This book was bought as a gift and it’s a great read interesting and thought provoking.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars There are now two kinds of war.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2019
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Interesting point of view,l agree with most of it but not all of it.
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Top reviews from other countries

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neeraj
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in India on 29 September 2023
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Very contemporary..must read for all
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Simon Rotelli
5.0 out of 5 stars Un tema così crudo non poteva tradursi in un libro leggero... però davvero 6 stelle!!!
Reviewed in Italy on 27 June 2020
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La guerra nella nostra cultura di europei è sempre un brutto affare, quindi sono stato riluttante prima di leggere questo libro, ma devo ammettere che le tesi di McFate sono essenziali per capire l'attuale contesto geopolitico.

Sostenere con fermezza la presa di coscienza della sconfitta americana in tutti gli ultimi conflitti non credo abbia fatto guadagnare molti amici all'autore, soprattutto nell'establishment militare.

E anche la tesi dell'inutilità delle moderne tecnologie e di molti armamenti non deve avere attirato la simpatia dell'industria bellica.

Senza parlare del suggerimento di creare una legione straniera e dell'analisi lucida sul tema degli eserciti privati, o mercenari, che dir si voglia.

Un colpo da KO poi a Machiavelli rende la lettura per noi italiani ancora più interessante.

Davvero illuminante sul futuro, ma anche sul recente passato e sulle situazioni di prolungato disordine in corso, come Ucraina, Siria e Libia.
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beau loots
4.0 out of 5 stars War in Context
Reviewed in Australia on 10 December 2019
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An essential read for anyone concerned by the West’s chronic failure to maintain itself in competition with rising powers. The failure of the West is more than a failure of military strategy: it is a failure of culture reminiscent of the failure of the Roman Empire. Firstly; the West lives Christian morality that is a crumbling theology exploited by its opponents. Secondly; the West does not understand the nature of man despite its biological academics being experts on the topic. Desmond Morris “the naked ape” and Edward O Wilson “Sociobiology” explaining that humans are tribal predators. They are not “Multicultural
Animals”. Multiculturalism simply undermines and destroys societies as elementary observation of multicultural societies easily demonstrates. Nearly all conflict is not so much racially, but culturally motivated as Samuel Huntington demonstrated decades ago. (Clash of Civilisations and the remaking of the World Order)
Any Strategic Assessment by the West must consider these fundamental insights into the intellectual failures of the West. It is probably true that Western Civilisation will collapse and future generations will be responsible for its regeneration in some other cultural identity.
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