Strategy
A History
by Lawrence Freedman · first published 2013
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A history of strategy from ancient warfare to modern geopolitics, tracing how strategic thinking developed. Readers praise it as an accessible, well-told survey for general readers of military and political history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…decreasing over time. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker Genius Foods by Max Lugavere Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg The Framers Coup by Michael Klarman Leadership by George MacGregor Burns Strategy by Lawrence Freedman Several books by Joseph Campbell or Peter Drucker. Can't go wrong with either.
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗Threadjack: if this sort of thing interest you, and want to hear other opines about strategy, tactics and their use through history, plus some modern anecdotes: I've been listening to and enjoying Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman on my commutes to work the last few weeks. https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-History-Lawrence-Freedman/dp...
on “A Pirate's Take on Strategy vs. Tactics” ↗I went to a talk by Lawrence Freedman [1] in Oxford where he discussed this war. He has a chapter dedicated to it in his book 'Strategy: A History' [2] (which I highly recommend). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Freedman [2] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strategy-History-Sir-Lawrence-Freed...
on “Gombe Chimpanzee War” ↗Prisoners of Geography: Ten maps that explain everything about the world (Tim Marshall) The Feynman Processor (Gerard J. Milburn) Strategy: A History (Lawrence Freedman)
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗Various books on military science/history/geopolitics like Understanding Modern Warfare and Strategy (Lawrence Freedman), and books on Philosophy such as recently I'm reading books by Alvin Plantinga. I find that reading books from those genres makes me question things more, which I find is a good exercise…
on “Ask HN: Which books have made you a better thinker and problem solver?” ↗…rationality was first acknowledged, although the Prussian military figured that out long before Taylor grabbed his stopwatch to time people loading pig iron into train cars. I encourage you to read: Strategy: A History By sir Lawrence Freedman For a more in depth discussion. [1] https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Intro...
on “GPT-4.5: "Not a frontier model"?” ↗I have been reading "Strategy: A History" by Lawrence Freedman, and reading the papers and books mentioned in the bibliography as I go.
on “Craigslist takes personals sections offline in response to FOSTA” ↗