The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War - Rilegato

"Thrilling reading. ... There is no one better equipped to tell the story. ... Kaplan, a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter ... knows the military world inside and out. ... An authoritative, gripping and somewhat terrifying account of how the American military approached two major wars in the combustible Islamic world." (Thanassis Cambaniss The New York Times Book Review)

“Riveting . . . Combining superb storytelling and meticulous journalism, Kaplan has produced an unparalleled account of how the U.S. military has adapted itself to the realities of the Middle East.” (The Washington Institute, Silver Book Prize Winner)

"One of the very best books ever written about the American military in the era of small wars. ... Fred Kaplan brings a formidable talent for writing intellectual history." (Thomas Powers The New York Review of Books)

“Serious and insightful. ... The Insurgents seems destined to be one of the more significant looks at how the US pursued the war in Iraq and at the complex mind of the general in charge when the tide turned.” (Tony Perry Los Angeles Times)

"Compelling" (Dexter Filkins The New Yorker)

"The Insurgents is a tremendously clear and informative guide to the strengths and weaknesses of the military we have today and to the decisions we are about to make. ... Anyone who reads The Insurgents will be better prepared to understand what America has done right and wrong with its military over the past generation." (James Fallows, The American Prospect)

"Excellent ... An intellectual thriller." (Joe Klein Time)

"Riveting...essential reading... Kaplan's meticulous account of the ways Petraeus found to bring together and nurture the counterinsurgency 'cabal' might profitably be read by anyone interested in bringing change to a giant bureaucracy." (John Barry The Daily Beast)

"A very readable, thoroughly reported account of how, in American military circles, 'counterinsurgency' became a policy instead of a dirty word." (Janet Maslin The New York Times)

“Fred Kaplan has written a dazzling, compulsively readable book. Let's start with the fact that it is so well written, a quality so often lacking in books describing counterinsurgency. Let's also throw in the facts that it is both deeply researched and also devoid of cheerleading for the military or indeed any other kind of political bias. This book will join a small shelf of the most important accounts of the wars America has fought and will likely continue to fight in the 21st century.” (Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: the Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad)

Fred Kaplan writes the "War Stories" column in Slate and has also written many articles on politics and culture in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York magazine, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and many other publications. A former Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Boston Globe, he is also the author of 1959: The Year Everything Changed, Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power.