How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle

By Gideon Rose

Categories: History, Politics & Social Sciences

How Wars End is a 2010 book by Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs. Rose examines American wars from World War I to Iraq and argues that U.S. leaders repeatedly fail to plan for the political endgame and the postwar period.

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• Fareed Zakaria: “This week's "Book of the Week" is by today's panel guest, Gideon Rose. It's just been published and it's called "How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle." It's a great book. Rose argues that Americans are never content, always disappointed with the way our wars end, and he says that it happens because U.S. officials never think through the post-war when they begin or are prosecuting the war. The -- the recent example of this is of course Iraq and now Afghanistan, but it's also true of the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam and there are chapters on each of these. A brilliant book on an important subject.”