Haphazard Countdown

Three recent books, especially if read together, provide considerable insight into the current security problems of the United States. James D. Atkinson’s challenging work, The Edge of War (Regnery, $6.00), combines a panorama of American strategic history with an intellectual framework for comprehension of the American conflict with Communism. Atkinson shows that, traditionally, American security policies have been bedeviled by distrust of the military profession, illusionary thinking about conflict and reluctance to take measures which could have prevented war.

The United States is vulnerable to the appeals of coexistence and disarmament; in particular, the Communists abuse “peace” as a slogan with which to conquer at minimal risk and cost. They have been “fusing” war and peace into a combined war-peace strategy which the author has dubbed “polyreconism.” In Communist practice, unconventional warfare undertakings precede, backstop, and sometimes replace military force. The author argues that the Soviet capability for “polyreconic” strategy is increasing.

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Stefan T. Possony

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Department of Defense

Three recent books, especially if read together, provide considerable insight into the current security problems of the United States. James D. Atkinson’s challenging work, The Edge of War (Regnery, $6.00), combines a panorama of American strategic history with an intellectual framework for comprehension of the American conflict with Communism. Atkinson shows that, traditionally, American security policies have been bedeviled by distrust of the military profession, illusionary thinking about conflict and reluctance to take measures which could have prevented war.

The United States is vulnerable to the appeals of coexistence and disarmament; in particular, the Communists abuse “peace” as a slogan with which to conquer at minimal risk and cost. They have been “fusing” war and peace into a combined war-peace strategy which the author has dubbed “polyreconism.” In Communist practice, unconventional warfare undertakings precede, backstop, and sometimes replace military force. The author argues that the Soviet capability for “polyreconic” strategy is increasing.