Robert B Asprey

Ranging from Alexander the Great’s battles with Asiatic Scythians, through the Russian Revolution, and on up to the turmoil in the Middle East and the battle in Northern Ireland, War in the Shadows is a book of monumental sweep and singular perspective. It also contains a comprehensive and hard-hitting strategic evaluation of the Vietnam War—one of the most significant analyses of “the war that won’t go away.” War in the Shadows tells the story of the countries currently torn by armed insurgencies and clarifies the causes of each conflict. It provides the broad viewpoint necessary for understanding them in the historical terms of guerilla warfare. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and a highly unstable “new world order,” this brand of rebellion has never been more powerful and potentially disruptive. As the author states in his Foreword, “For a number of reasons guerilla warfare has evolved into an ideal instrument for the realization of social-political-economic aspirations of underprivileged peoples. This is so patently true as to allow one to suggest that we may be witnessing a transition to a new era in warfare, an era as radically different as those of which followed the writings of Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Clausewitz, and Mahan.” War in the Shadows is crucial to understanding the complex challenges of our new and dangerous era.

On June 5, 1918, the 2nd Division, made up of soldiers and marines, launched an offensive on German lines at Belleau Wood. Using sources on both sides of the Atlantic and personally interviewing many of those who fought at the wood, Asprey combines excitement with detail and accuracy in telling of this major battle of World War I. He describes the hardships, the combination of tactical ingenuity and pure guts which ultimately enabled Major Maurice Shearer to report to Brigadier General Harbord on June 26th, "Belleau Wood now U.S. Marine Corps entirely." Back in print after many years--first time in paperback.