Name: Strategy: A History
Price: 1259.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Freedman, Lawrence
ISBN: 9780199325153

Type

Physical Book

Author

Lawrence Freedman

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Year

2013

Language

English

Pages

768

Format

Hardcover

Dimensions

23.9 x 16.8 x 6.4 cm

Weight

1.36 kg.

ISBN13

9780199325153

Synopsis "Strategy: A History "

Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013 In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz, the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx, the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan, and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy, the author notes, is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again, Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment-subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends-provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nationsrarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, but instead feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point, not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history, from David's use of deception against Goliath, to the modern use of game theory in economics, this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy.

Lawrence Freedman

(Author)

View Author's Page

Lawrence Freedman has been a professor of War Studies at King’s College London since 1982, and vice-chancellor since 2003. Since 2009, he has worked on the United Kingdom’s Official Inquiry into the Iraq War. He is the author of numerous works on nuclear strategy and the Cold War, and is a regular commentator on security-related issues.

See less