First published 2009
Colonel H.R. McMaster stands in the caves of southeastern Afghanistan, watching militants use emerging technology to spread their message across the globe. The United States faces a new kind of battlefield where ideology travels faster than bullets. McMaster witnesses how extremist groups weaponize information to recruit the uncertain, rally the sympathetic, and mobilize active supporters from Baghdad's streets to remote mountain hideouts. He must navigate four distinct levels of this conflict: the global political arena where diplomacy shapes outcomes, strategic zones where violence erupts and military power responds, operational theaters like the Iraq campaign where specific missions unfold, and tactical situations where individual soldiers make split-second decisions. As McMaster documents how military personnel grapple with these information challenges, he reveals how "the message" drives those who commit acts of violence in the name of ideology, ethnic divisions, or religious extremism. The colonel's firsthand experience illuminates the struggle to define America's response to this unprecedented form of warfare.
Genres: history, political-science, military-fiction, non-fiction, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, military-strategy
Setting: Afghanistan, Baghdad, Iraq
Period: 21st-century
458 pages · Hardcover · POTOMAC BOOKS