Benjamin Cooper

The true profit in War is MacMillan’s subdued discussion of how war has disrupted ideas such as history, peace, and reason. The subtitle, however, suggests it will be something different.

Gallows humor is one thing, but at times Grunt succumbs to camp, which is to say it indulges in its own questionable taste.

What intrigues most about Gall’s book, however, is not the many local lessons it offers but rather how it wants to construct and control a broader narrative about the war. This impulse is smart insofar as no coherent national narrative about Afghanistan seems to circulate, and The Wrong Enemy realizes its opportunity to address the vacuum.

David Kilcullen’s new book predicts the future of armed conflict through terrorism’s recent past, and with the city as its stage, but Out of The Mountains is best when it’s analyzing, not prophesying.