Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare

by Mark McNeilly

Overview

Long acknowledged as a classic text on strategy, Sun Tzu's The Art of War has been admired by leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong and General Norman Schwartzkopf. However, written two thousand years ago, the book can be somewhat daunting to the modern reader. Now Mark McNeilly, author of Sun Tzu and the Art of Business, which made Sun Tzu accessible to the business executive, has extracted the six concepts most applicable to modern warfare, making them easy to understand and apply to military situations. Drawing on a wealth of fascinating historical examples, McNeilly shows how these six principles might be used in wars of the future-both conventional wars and terrorist conflicts-and how they can provide insight into current affairs, such as the war on terrorism and China's increasingly important strategic and military role in the world. In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, McNeilly has written a new chapter for this paperback edition, which addresses how Sun Tzu's ideas can be applied to the war on terrorism. He also describes how to win the information war, how to lead by example, and how to use alliances to defeat the opponent. Including the full text of The Art of War in the popular translation by Samuel Griffith, with cross-references to quotations used in the book, Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare unlocks these elusive secrets for anyone interested in strategy and warfare, whether they are professional soldiers, military history buffs, or business executives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199313952
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/10/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Mark McNeilly is a former U.S. Army infantry captain and graduate of the 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" Helicopter Assault School. The author of Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Strategic Principles for Managers, he is a Strategist for a Fortune 100 company. He lives in Apex, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: The Relevance of Sun Tzu to Modern Warfare	3
1.	Win All Without Fighting: Achieving the Objective Without Destroying It	11
2.	Avoid Strength, Attack Weakness: Striking Where the Enemy Is Most Vulnerable	33
3.	Deception and Foreknowledge: Winning the Information War	68
4.	Speed and Preparation: Moving Swiftly to Overcome Resistance	96
5.	Shaping the Enemy: Preparing the Battlefield	125
6.	Character-based Leadership: Leading by Example	155
7.	The Changing Character of War: Ancient Principles for Future Battlefields	181
8.	The War on Terrorism: Applying Sun Tzu's Principles	201
	Notes	225
	Original Translation of The Art of War	235
	Bibliography to Sun Tzu translation	319
	Index to Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare	325

Editorial Reviews

Sun Tzu's The Art of War is an acknowledged classic of military theory that has been used as a reference by the profession of arms for centuries. A marketing strategist for IBM, former infantry officer, and author of Sun Tzu and the Art of Business, McNeilly has updated an admittedly difficult text by annotating it with examples drawn from military experiences (mainly Civil War and World War II vignettes) familiar to Americans. The book includes the full text of the popular translation by Samuel B. Griffith. Much of the added commentary favorably compares Sun Tzu's approach to that of Carl von Clausewitz, the German writer whose On War has dominated much of Western military thinking for two centuries. McNeilly's vignettes are often strained, stretching the interpretation of events to make them fit the maxims, but the result may be to make a classic somewhat more accessible to a modern audience not steeped in military traditions. Recommended where demand exists. Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

There are many translations of Sun Tzu's THE ART OF WAR. This book goes far beyond translation; McNeilly reorganizes the classic work of military strategy into unifying principles, then explains their importance and illustrates their meaning with examples from thousands of years of military history. Listening to Grover Gardner's narration is like listening to a strong professor lecture; Gardner loops back repeatedly to specific principles, or even specific battles, with just the right emphasis. What's more, he handles McNeilly's references, which juxtapose Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, or provide Chinese commentary on Sun Tzu, with ease, despite vocabulary from half a dozen languages. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 02 - AudioFile