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Eliot A. Cohen. New York: The Free Press, 2002. 288 pp. $25.00 ($22.50).
In this book, Professor Eliot Cohen, Director of Strategic Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and one of the most prominent and accomplished civilian strategists, sets out to "uncover the nature of strategy making in war." Following the introduction, chapter-length studies of four great wartime statesmen and the military leaders who served them form the meat of the text. The author's analysis and the evidence he presents support his conclusion that civilian leaders must remain fully engaged in the direction and conduct of war. The author further develops and summarizes his argument in two additional chapters and an appendix under the title "The Theory of Civilian Control." This is an important book. While some might question elements of Cohen's arguments and interpretations, the author has produced a provocative and valuable study of wartime leadership. Supreme Command has broad implications for contemporary civil-military relations and the strategic direction of war.
Cohen's principal subjects are U.S. President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau during World...