America's Dirty Wars: Irregular Warfare from 1776 to the War on Terror

Russell Crandall

Cambridge University Press, Apr 28, 2014 - History - 583 pages

This book examines the long, complex experience of American involvement in irregular warfare. It begins with the American Revolution in 1776 and chronicles big and small irregular wars for the next two and a half centuries. What is readily apparent in dirty wars is that failure is painfully tangible while success is often amorphous. Successfully fighting these wars often entails striking a critical balance between military victory and politics. America's status as a democracy only serves to make fighting - and, to a greater degree, winning - these irregular wars even harder. Rather than futilely insisting that Americans should not or cannot fight this kind of irregular war, Russell Crandall argues that we would be better served by considering how we can do so as cleanly and effectively as possible.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Irregular Warfare 101: 15
• part one the american revolution to chasing sandino 17761930s: 27
• The American Revolution: 29
• Confederates and Indians: 46
• The Boer War 18991902: 63
• America Aguinaldo and the Philippines 1898: 72
• Chasing Villa 1916: 89
• A Cold Winter in Siberia: 100
• The Banana Wars 18981930s: 109
• T E Lawrence and the Arab Revolt 19161918: 127
• Chasing Sandino 19271932: 136
• part two the cold war 1940s1989 12 Cold War Counterinsurgencies: 153
• Mao Zedong: 157
• France in Algeria 19541962: 174
• David Galula: 185
• Malaya Emergency 19481960: 190
• Ramón Magsaysay and the Hukbalahap Rebellion in the Philippines 19461956: 199
• Vietnam: 209
• part three latin america and the cold war 1950s1980s: 237
• From Guatemala 1954 to Cuba and the Bay of Pigs 1961: 239
• Guatemala Post1963: 258
• Cuba Post1963: 269
• Che Guevara and Guerrilla Warfare: 277
• Carter Reagan and the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua 19791990: 280
• El Salvador 19791992: 304
• part four postcold war 1990s2000s: 337
• Dirty Wars after the Cold War: 339
• Colombia: 345
• Iraq: 363
• The Counterinsurgency Field Manual and Postmodern Insurgencies: 393
• Post911 COIN in the Philippines: 398
• Afghanistan Graveyard of Empires: 404
• America in Afghanistan: 412
• The Fall of Muammar Qaddafi 2011: 442
• JSOC Raids and Drone Strikes: 457
• Conclusion: 467
• I Feel More Like a Monster: 471
• Notes: 473
• Bibliography: 519
• Index: 547

About the author

Russell Crandall is a Professor of International Politics and American Foreign Policy at Davidson College. His previous books include The United States and Latin America after the Cold War (Cambridge, 2008); Gunboat Democracy: US Interventions in the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Panama (2006); and Driven by Drugs: US Policy Toward Colombia (2008). Interwoven with his academic career, Crandall has held high-level foreign policy appointments within several sectors of the US government, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon and the National Security Council at the White House.

Bibliographic information

• Title: America's Dirty Wars: Irregular Warfare from 1776 to the War on Terror; America's Dirty Wars: Irregular Warfare from 1776 to the War on Terror, Russell Crandall
• Author: Russell Crandall
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2014
• ISBN: 110700313X, 9781107003132
• Length: 583 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Modern / 20th Century / General; History / Modern / General; History / United States / General