Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

Dixon, Norman F.

Paperback

General PsychologyRussian HistoryWorld War II

ISBN10: 0465097804
ISBN13: 9780465097807
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: May 31 2016
Pages: 528
Weight: 1.20
Height: 1.50 Width: 5.40 Depth: 8.20
Language: English
The indisputable classic of military history that uncovers the shortcomings of military leadership and explains why generals fail

The Crimea, the Boer War, the Somme, Tobruk, Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs: These are just some of the milestones in a century of military incompetence, of costly mishaps and tragic blunders. Are these simple accidents--as the bloody fool theory has it--or are they inevitable?

The psychologist Norman F. Dixon argues that there is a pattern to inept generalship, and he locates this pattern within the very act of creating armies in the first place, which in his view produces a leveling down of human capability that encourages the mediocre and limits the gifted. In this light, successful generals achieve what they do despite the stultifying features of the organization to which they belong. A classic study of military leadership, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence is at once an original exploration of the battles that have defined the last two centuries of human civilization and an essential guide for the next generation of military leaders.

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