Technology and the American way of war /

Mahnken, a former professor of strategy at the US Naval War College and current deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy planning, has written extensively on innovations and revolutions in military affairs. His latest book focuses on how technology interacted with the culture of the US armed services from 1945 to 2005, when reliance on advanced technology was a central pillar of the US way of war. The author describes some of the important technological transformations of the period, such as the nuclear and information revolutions, the use of global positioning systems (GPS), precision guided munitions (PGMs), and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The book demonstrates how the strategic environment of the Cold War shaped both technology and organizational culture within the US military. Mahnken asserts that although technology helped shape the culture of the US armed forces, more often, the services shaped the development of technology and molded it to suit their own purposes. He also notes that in order for the services to have success in adopting new ways of war, they must have the support of high-level civilian or military leaders. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students. C. G. Frentzos Austin Peay State University