Defense Technology International - September 2007 - (Page 64) DTI_09_01_2007_p64_index.qxd 8/22/07 4:59 PM Page 64 REVIEW BOOK REVIEWED BY DAVID AXE THE GHOST BRIGADES BY JOHN SCALZI Tor, 2007 374 pp., $7.99 This second installment in a threebook cycle, released in paperback in May, is both a riveting sci-fi adventure and a thoughtful exploration of traditional military strategy and the ethics of science. Robert Heinlein is an obvious inspiration. John Scalzi’s prose pales next to Heinlein’s but his plotting is arguably better. The aliens and spaceships are fun; the political intrigue is engrossing, and the book is prescient in a far-out kind of way. Key characters in the cycle include special forces soldiers genetically modified to survive in harsh environments, even deep space. These characters are not as fanciful as they seem, or as futuristic. Back in the real world, Michael Callahan, a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, described recently his efforts to use supplements and biological modification to help soldiers hold their breath longer under water and make them immune to disease and resistant to toxins. Only one thing prevents Scalzi’s series, which is bookended by Old Man’s War and The Last Colony, from being embraced by the military establishment like Heinlein’s Starship Troopers has been. While Scalzi understands the military ethos, he lags by a couple of decades in his understanding of warfare on the strategic and operational levels. Scalzi’s imaginary wars are most like the industrial wars of the last century: big, heavily armed forces fighting pitched battles over territory. Where are the insectoid insurgents? The intergalactic extremists? The occupations of restive, underdeveloped alien worlds? REVIEWED BY PAUL MCLEARY THE DAY OF BATTLE: THE WAR IN SICILY AND ITALY 1943-44 BY RICK ATKINSON Henry Holt & Co., 2007 816 pp., $35 If war “is not just a military campaign, but also a parable,” as Rick Atkinson says in The Day of Battle, the second installment of his three-part account of World War II, then the fight has rarely been in such capable hands for illuminating the small truths of battle. While Atkinson previously chronicled the massive, and bloody, mistakes the Allies made in order to drive the Nazis out of North Africa, he now turns the mundane details often overlooked in official battle histories, newspaper accounts and the diaries of soldiers into the stuff of a gripping and very human epic. � ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE UPCOMING: IN PRINT - OCT ISSUE Land: Armor Vehicle Sights Sea: Ship-to-Shore Transport Air: Airborne Electronic Attack Special: MRAP Feature ONLINE Join the DTI community on AviationWeek.com - including defense blogs, forums, galleries, comments, ratings/recommendations, and more. Visit: www.aviationweek.com/aw/community EVENT AUSA, October 8-10, Washington, D.C. Bonus distribution and editorial coverage of the leading defense technology show focused on emerging technologies and global needs. 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