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Baylis, John, et al., eds. Strategy in the Contemporary World: An Introduction to Strategic Studies. Oxford, UX: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002. 356pp. $27.95
Although not recognized as an equal academic discipline by mainstream academics, the study of strategy has a long and honorable history-the result of numerous authors who, over the centuries, have developed their ideas and placed their own imprints on the discipline. Since the beginning of the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear destruction concentrated the minds of scholars, the field shifted from traditional military concerns to the study of nuclear deterrence. But now, more than a decade beyond the end of the Cold War, strategic studies return to their origins, though in a time rife with novel challenges. Strategy in the Contemporary World marks a good first step for the discipline.
The editors, strategists all, have assembled a remarkable introduction to strategic studies. Not only is it the first textbook on the subject rather than a collection of edited readings, but...