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Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare. By Mark McNeilly. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 299 pages. $27.50. Reviewed by Dr. J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr., Professor of Military History, US Army War College.
This book lacks sophistication in terms of both strategic and historical analysis. The author, a former Army captain and marketing strategist for IBM, is following up his book applying Sun Tzu's principles to business management. He steps into the realm of warfare and strategy as an unabashed apostle of Sun Tzu; like many apostles, he is unwilling to acknowledge that the doctrine he espouses might be either contestable, fallible, or imperfect. The assumption is that Sun Tzu had it right thousands of years ago, and we simply need to understand him today. Mr. McNeilly's stated intent is to help modern soldiers, statesmen, and historians better understand Sun Tzu by "crystallizing the concepts and ideas put forth in The Art of War into six strategic principles." He says the principles are like the principles of physics in that a commander who uses them will be successful, while a commander who ignores or does not understand them "does so at his own peril." Such prescience is an enormous claim for any book-unfortunately, the result does not come close to the promise. McNeilly has a personal theory of how war ought to be conducted. It reflects much of Sun Tzu's writings, although the major emphasis on the indirect approach comes from B. H. Liddell Hart and the concept of friction from Clausewitz. Hart and Sun Tzu are harmonious; the small piece from Clausewitz contradicts Sun Tzu. Thus, this book really should be titled "Mark McNeilly and the Science of Modern War"-using "science" in lieu of "art" because infallible principles characterize sciences, not arts.
Whether the subject...