Book Review: Something Rotten: Land Command in the 21st Century by Jim Storr

Here is a review of the book Something Rotten: Land Command in the 21st Century by Jim Storr: #WavellReviews “Something Rotten: Land Command in the 21st Century” by Jim Storr » Wavell Room

Jim Storr was a speaker at the first Historical Analysis Annual Conference (HAAC) and his presentation on “Weaponizing Historical Analysis: A Case Study of the Introduction of HA into Doctrine” was well received.

I have not read the book, but note in the review: “Ultimately, the lack of real military science and study (something Storr is also keen to highlight) means we are stuck with the sources we have.”

Amazon link to book: Amazon.com: Something Rotten: Land Command in the 21st Century: 9781912440320: Storr, Jim: Books

Jim Storr is the author of several other books, 1) King Arthur’s Wars, 2) The Human Face of War, 3) The Hall of Mirrors, 4) Battlegroup!, and 5) Something Rotten: Amazon.com: Jim Storr: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

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Christopher A. Lawrence
Christopher A. Lawrence

Christopher A. Lawrence is a professional historian and military analyst. He is the Executive Director and President of The Dupuy Institute, an organization dedicated to scholarly research and objective analysis of historical data related to armed conflict and the resolution of armed conflict. The Dupuy Institute provides independent, historically-based analyses of lessons learned from modern military experience.

Mr. Lawrence was the program manager for the Ardennes Campaign Simulation Data Base, the Kursk Data Base, the Modern Insurgency Spread Sheets and for a number of other smaller combat data bases. He has participated in casualty estimation studies (including estimates for Bosnia and Iraq) and studies of air campaign modeling, enemy prisoner of war capture rates, medium weight armor, urban warfare, situational awareness, counterinsurgency and other subjects for the U.S. Army, the Defense Department, the Joint Staff and the U.S. Air Force. He has also directed a number of studies related to the military impact of banning antipersonnel mines for the Joint Staff, Los Alamos National Laboratories and the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation.

His published works include papers and monographs for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation, in addition to over 40 articles written for limited-distribution newsletters and over 60 analytical reports prepared for the Defense Department. He is the author of Kursk: The Battle of Prokhorovka (Aberdeen Books, Sheridan, CO., 2015), America’s Modern Wars: Understanding Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam (Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia & Oxford, 2015), War by Numbers: Understanding Conventional Combat (Potomac Books, Lincoln, NE., 2017) and The Battle of Prokhorovka (Stackpole Books, Guilford, CT., 2019)

Mr. Lawrence lives in northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C., with his wife and son.

Articles: 1455

One comment

  1. Human Face of War was interesting. There was a lot there, but he made a point about the half-life of combat experience, a Dixon-like Psychology of Military Incompetence argument, and thought that tactical reserves were OVER-emphasized. If not dead on, at least valid questions.

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