Military Review English Edition November-December 2013 | Page 108

BOOK REVIEWS
The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.—Franklin D. Roosevelt

R

ICHARD GARLITZ AND Lisa Jarvinen’s
Teaching America to the World and the World
to America is a collection of essays that traces
the influence of education on American foreign
relations from the close of the Civil War, to the
reestablishment of educational exchanges between
the United States and China in the 1970s. In his
introduction, Garlitz highlights the book’s primary
purpose is to “examine how students and teachers
shaped American global power in the twentieth
century.” He also draws the reader’s attention to
two themes that serve to interconnect each of the
volume’s ten essays; first, the idea that education
strongly supported American “empire-building,” to
include the “spread of values, ideas, and consumer
goods,” and second, that education plays a crucial
role in “self-strengthening” efforts, such as foreign
countries looking to emulate perceived American
successes, and America’s desire to broaden its cultural awareness through exchange programs.
The authors describe the role of international students and government-sponsored education modernization programs through historical examples.
Each essay provides a cultural perspective while
encompassing topics like Argentina’s nationbuilding push to “Americanize” its school system in
the mid-19th century, Iran’s modernization efforts
under the Shah in the 1950s and 1960s, and the
work of Japanese Fulbright students in rebuilding
Japan in the aftermath of World War II, to name just
a few. Hongshan Li’s essay, “From State Function to
Private Enterprise: Reversing the Historical Trend
in U.S.-China Education Exchange,” is relevant for
those studying U.S.-China relations.
Teaching America to the World goes a long
way in demonstrating how education and student
exchanges have impacted U.S. foreign relations.
Officers and faculty interested in gaining a multifaceted historical perspective on the role education
plays in nationbuilding, or “self-strengthening”
initiatives, should read this book.
Col. Clayton T. Newton, USA, Retired
Redstone Arsenal, Alabama

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FROM KABUL TO BAGHDAD AND BACK
The U.S. at War in Afghanistan and Iraq
John R. Ballard, David W. Lamm, and
John K. Wood, Naval Institute Press
Annapolis, MD, 2012, 369 pages, $28.49

I

N AN EFFORT to glean meaning, while contributing to national defense strategy in the future,
the U.S. military is forced to look inward at the
key strategic decisions made during the operational
planning of the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of war.
U.S. foreign policy is a lightning rod of controversy
that is still being played out today, with bipartisan
agreement a daunting challenge. One decision
impacting national strategy was conducting simultaneous campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
authors deconstruct each campaign to identify the
weaknesses and impacts from such a strategy.
John Ballard, David Lamm, and John Wood, all
esteemed scholars in the field of national strategic
studies, provide accurate details of the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns, highlighting successes
while also critiquing failures. Their analyses
highlight how divergent lines of effort undermined
the Afghanistan effort while attempting the first
“generated-start” war in Iraq. The novelties of preemptive strike and speed are openly critiqued and
the fallacy of war on the cheap is rebuked in favor
of more traditionally held views. Commonly held
beliefs of deficient Phase IV (stability) planning are
scrutinized, with close examination of the frayed
civilian-military relationships and resulting failures
during the most difficult periods in both wars.
The authors draw parallels between the campaigns and highlight levels of success the “surge”
strategy had in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senior leaders’ lack of cultural understanding and strategic
understanding is discussed at length as well is the
argument of counterinsurgency versus counterterrorism operations. The current administration’s
decision to accelerate the U.S. troop withdrawal,
hoping Afghan security forces are capable to
assume the mission, is discussed.
From Kabul to Baghdad and Back is a concise,
well-written depiction of the events in Iraq and
November-December 2013 ? MILITARY REVIEW