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The Journal of Military History 70.2 (2006) 570-576



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Books Received

Virginia Military Institute

General

Historical Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies. 2nd edition. By Ludwig W. Adamec. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8108-4948-8. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Appendixes. Bibliography. Pp. lxxxviii, 401. $70.00. This reference work offers detailed entries for events, persons and varied topics in Afghan military history from the founding of the Sadozai dynasty in 1747 to the present; the second edition adds items on the U.S. involvement since October 2001.

A Military History of Sovereign Hawai'i. By Neil Bernard Dukas. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-56647-636-4. Illustrations. Glossary. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. x, 222. Paper. $17.95. The author focuses on the way of war in Hawaii in the classical period before the 19th century and then on the national army of the Hawaiian state in the 19th century lasting until annexation by the U.S. in 1898.

Nation-Building: Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq. Edited by Francis Fukuyama. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8018-8335-0. Tables. Notes. Index. Pp. x, 262. Paper. $21.95. This collection of twelve essays offers a variety of views on the American historical experience with nation building in various parts of the world and on the current efforts at "post-conflict reconstruction" in Afghanistan and Iraq. The consensus is that the U.S. will continue to face nation-building tasks in the future; it needs to learn how to do them.

Naval Power in the Twenty-first Century. Edited by Peter Dombrowski. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College Press, 2005. Photographs. Figures. Notes. Paper. This anthology of recent articles from the Naval War College Review offers fourteen selections on the changing security environment and the coming transformation of the navy and naval strategy; Naval War College Newport Papers No. 24.

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. Edited by I. C. B. Dear and Peter Kemp. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-860616-8. Illustrations. Figures. Pp. viii, 677. $65.00. This second edition of a nautical dictionary which first appeared in 1976 contains thousands of entries on everything nautical or naval, from "Aaron Manby, the first steamship to be built of iron," through gaff rigs and neap tides to an obsolete type of Scottish fishing vessel called a "zulu."

The Regulation of International Coercion: Legal Authorities and Political Constraints. By James P. Terry. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College Press, 2005. Notes. Pp. vi, 146. Paper. The author analyzes international law and its application to contemporary conflict with special reference to constraints on U.S. actions in Afghanistan and Iraq; Naval War College Newport Papers No. 25.

SIPRI Yearbook 2005: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-928401-6. Glossary. Tables. Notes. Index. Pp. xxxiv, 853. $150.00. This is the 35th edition of the standard and authoritative [End Page 570] reference work from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on the status of the world's military establishments and current conflicts.

The Torture Debate in America. Edited by Karen J. Greenberg. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-67461-1. Notes. Index. Pp. xviii, 414. Paper. $18.99. Twenty-eight authorities present essays dealing with a variety of issues related to interrogation, international law, torture, terrorism, etc., in an effort to place current events in Iraq and elsewhere in historical and legal perspective.

War Elephants. By John M. Kistler. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006. ISBN 0-275-98761-2. Photographs. Illustrations. Glossary. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xv, 333. $44.95. Contrary to popular myth, elephants have been useful military assets in a variety of settings throughout history, at least until recently when the only known use is as pack animals by insurgent groups in Myanmar.

War and the Engineers: The Primacy of Politics over Technology. By Keir A. Lieber. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8014-4383-0. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. x, 226. $39.95. Though there is much debate...

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