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MWSA Review
Elements of War by Gray Rinehart is a comprehensive exploration of the theories and principles of war, and the evolution of various theories of war, from Sun Tzu to von Clausewitz to Mahan. The book is very technical in and in-depth, using the various traditional, established methods to develop strategies in war to build towards an encompassing comprehensive theory of war. Unless you are a senior military officer or academic steeped in the study of military history, theory, and grand strategy, this is not a casual read. Fortunately, in-depth, detailed concepts are introduced in short chapters. At the same time, continuous references to past or future chapters can be distracting at times, an unavoidable dilemma given the nature of this subject.
The author states the book is based on a previous thesis and several professional papers. Although published in 2019, with some material probably originating earlier, the amount of attention and detail paid to the emerging and merging challenges of both cyber and space elements into modern warfare is noteworthy. There are also specific discussions of both naval and air warfare. This book will be of interest to career military officers, academics and those that work in military-industrial research and “think-tank” enterprises.
Review by Terry Lloyd (May 2025)
Author's Synopsis
ELEMENTS OF WAR examines war and warfare in ways that challenge some of the most deeply held conceptions of armed conflict.
War involves myriad violent actions against often intractable foes, across varied and difficult environments, in pursuit of broad strategic aims, making it perhaps the most complex and consequential of all human activities. This volume presents nontraditional and even innovative ways of thinking about war and its constituent elements, and suggests that we may comprehend war better if we study it through the lens of theory of knowledge.
Is it possible to understand war in its totality? Perhaps not, but it does us well to try--even if we never approach any sort of unified theory to guide our strategic and tactical aims.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 357
Word Count: 85,000