The sleeve notes make ambitious claims for ‘About War’ and Christopher Pike’s work does, indeed, cover a lot of ground. But it is fair to note that the narrative gradually evolves into a set of personal observations and prescriptions concerning the position in Britain, particularly in the relationship between ministers, service chiefs and what best be described as the unhelpfully complex real world.
Readers in 2025, like this reviewer, have the immense advantage of knowing what has happened since this book was published - first in the illegal war launched by Putin, the gallant resistance mounted by Ukraine and the recent turbulence caused by President Trump’s maverick approach to international relations. Events have demonstrated that planning and strategy need a remarkable degree of intellectual flexibility to cope with such large scale disruption.
Notwithstanding these comments, ‘About War’ is an interesting and thoughtful read, although this reviewer would prefer authors to avoid a vocabulary that seems to come with the territory for academics. Demotic? Exogenous? How about ‘everyday’ and ‘external’?