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 nations rarely 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.
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