Illuminates enduring ideas and uses of military strategy since the 16th century. Leading thinkers and practitioners oscillate between views of strategy (following Clausewitz, the systematic approach to warfare absent one’s foes; tactics incorporate active engagement) as science and artifice. Clausewitz; Smith and Hamilton, who identified economics as a source of power; and Gordon Craig’s study of politicians as emergent strategists are among the most interesting chapters. The rise of German strategy, in various phases and components, inevitably forms a leading theme, given the country’s responsibility for the World War II and oft-presumed culpability for World War I. Cold War nuclear thinking is rather less interesting, particularly as the scholarship predates understanding Reagan. The next frontier is strategy in the era of terrorism, particularly Islamo-fascism. An outstanding collection.