NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE

CLASS OF 2010

SUMMER 2009 OPTIONAL READING LIST

From time to time, the National War College receives inquiries from incoming students as to materials that it would be helpful for them to read in advance of their ten-month program of study.

In response, the faculty Course Directors for Academic Year 2009-2010 have prepared the following list of suggested background reading for individuals matriculating in August 2009.  The College considers this or any other advance preparation to be optional.

These are recommendations for enhancing an incoming student's intellectual preparation for his or her year at NWC, and are not necessarily books that will be assigned during Academic year 2009-2010.  The College does not provide advance copies, which must be purchased by students at individual expense, nor offer reimbursement for books purchased by students that subsequently are issued by the College during the academic year.  Most are available in paperback.

• Philip Bobbitt, The Shield of Achilles:  War, Peace and the Course of History.  New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.  (Likely to be issued by the College to students during AY09-10.)



• Jeffry A. Frieden. Global Capitalism:  Its Fall and Rise in the 20th Century.   New York:  W.W. Norton, 2006.



• Dennis Ross. Statecraft and How to Restore America’s Standing in the World.  New York:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007  (Likely to be issued by the College to students during AY09-10.)



• David Rothkopf.  Running the World:  The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power.  New York:  Public Affairs, 2005.



• David M. Smick.  The World is Curved:  Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy.  New York:  Penguin, 2008.



• Rupert Smith.  The Utility of Force:  The Art of War in the Modern World.  New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.



• Gordon S. Wood.  The American Revolution:  A History.  New York:  Modern Library, 2003.  (Likely to be issued by the College to students during AY09-10.)