Military Review English Edition May-June 2014 | Page 89

BOOK REVIEWS

First World War, Hart establishes a framework of
leadership, equipment, tactics, and operational context as he traces the battlefield results. By analyzing
the interplay of new weapons, evolving tactics, and
command decisions, he traces the contours of a titanic
struggle. Military leaders strove valiantly to adapt and
to escape the confines of total war in an environment
that challenged their ability to keep up.
Hart selects quotations from key players, from
general to private, throughout The Great War, based
on his knowledge of first-hand sources. These quotations adeptly illustrate his points of emphasis and add
verve to the narrative. By capitalizing on his position
as oral historian, Hart plumbs the thinking of military
leaders and challenges many prevailing opinions about
the adaptability of command and tactics during the
war. He revisits many failed decisions, to illuminate
their causes, but also provides context that reveals
how the reactions of military leaders were reasonable
even when they failed. Hart at least makes the challenges of adaptation and failures in command more
understandable.
Hart includes the peripheral theaters of war, such
as Salonika, Mesopotamia, the Sinai, and Palestine,
but not in detail. Despite this, The Great War serves
as a primer for those who have never read much about
the periphery of this worldwide conflict. He provides
thorough treatments of the western and eastern fronts
and the war at sea. He is most successful in levels of
detail and nuance in explaining the western front, as
we might expect from his background and previous
writing.
The book progresses by theater over time. It
includes representative photographs and a map of
each theater at the front of the book. This reviewer
found the absence of operational maps to parallel the
discussion in each chapter to be at least a distraction,
though it appears to be a conscious editorial decision.
The narrative would be improved by adding sketch
maps to illustrate the operational movements being
so carefully described.
The Great War may not satisfy the widely read
World War I historian in search of new, substantial
arguments with compelling proofs, but it will well
serve the military professional who desires to understand World War I in a tactical, operational, and human
sense, on the eve of the centennial of the conflict.
Col. Dean A. Nowowiejski, Ph.D., U.S. Army, Retired,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
MILITARY REVIEW May-June 2014

AMERICAN SNIPER,
Memorial Edition

Chris Kyle with Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen,
Harper Collins, New York, 2013
466 pages, $29.99

A

MERICAN SNIPER was originally published
in 2012. This memorial edition follows author
Chris Kyle’s murder by a disturbed ex-marine he
was trying to help and includes tributes from friends,
family, and fellow warriors. Each poignant entry
reveals much about Kyle and the effect he had on
others. Because Kyle worked in the special operations
community, his challenge was to write an informative
and relevant book without saying too much. Though
this story will likely satisfy readers wanting a broad
description of life as a Navy SEAL (sea-air-land team)
sniper, it may disappoint others wanting a vividly told,
detailed story.
Chris Kyle was a sniper assigned to SEAL Team
3, stationed in Coronado, Calif. He faced a significant
hurdle in writing American Sniper. Special operations
forces are often called the silent professionals, and
they expect their members to avoid the spotlight and
say little to nothing about their activities. Kyle cannot
speak specifically of his fellow SEALs. Though he
does provide group photos, the pictures of all living
members are blacked out. Names are almost never
mentioned. This is clearly the right approach, yet the
requirement for secrecy makes the book, at times, read
like a redacted report. Because of the need for security,
the Department of Defense and the Navy review books
such as this to ensure they avoid presenting details of
classified military operations. Readers of American
Sniper must keep this limitation in mind.
With 160 confirmed kills, Kyle was the most
lethal sniper in U.S. military history, but he was quite
humble about his reputation and ability. By his own
admission, he was not the best marksman, though a
confirmed kill at 2,100 yards suggests he must have
been enormously skilled. Further, he suggests that his
role, providing overwatch for a number of different
units from different services, allowed him far more
opportunities to engage the enemy than many of his
legendary predecessors experienced. He is matter87