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Strategy cover art

Strategy

Written by: Lawrence Freedman
Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
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Publisher's Summary

In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz, the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx, the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan, and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy, the author notes, is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again, Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment - subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends - provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, but instead feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point, not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history, from David's use of deception against Goliath, to the modern use of game theory in economics, this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2013 Lawrence Freedman (P)2014 Audible Inc.

What listeners say about Strategy

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Great way to stretch your mind

A thrilling read on how great minds have achieved historic feats throughout history. An excellent recount of various strategies from various periods of time.

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A great book for historians looking at history

Freedman explores a very wide scope of Strategy from the Warrior to the business leader - An extraordinary listen and well worth the effort.

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Too long for its own good

I’m sure there are great points being made in this book but they are drowned out by the meandering storytelling that lead to nowhere.

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Great content but difficult listen.

Long and hard to follow. A shorter more concise version would probably be better for all

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Too long for the goodness within

I'll admit that the nature of the subject makes for a challenging narrative. There are many golden nuggets of insight and fascinating perspectives but they lay within a thick mud of wordiness that ends up distracting from what is a really interesting story. Like a Dickens novel, this story is often lost by an author that might have been paid by the number of words written. (and a narrator that did not add much colour)
My interest and motivation in listening to this book was high but I found that it took a great amount of effort to stay attentive enough to follow the story that Freedman was trying to tell. To be fair, he does make a point of warning the listener at the beginning of the book while almost ironically attacking the importance of good story telling towards the end of the book. I think it is worth a listen, but be prepared to lose vast chunks of content by the slightest distraction or simply by falling asleep.

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A book without a spine

At the point of writing this review, I've completed 1/3 of the book, and I fail to see how it can qualify as a good book on strategy, or as a good book on the history of strategy. The strategy part mostly consists of comments about some of the ideas of some of the key figures of strategical thinking. As for history, it's superficial and purposeless, with some lazy and dubious choices of "historical figures" (unless, of course, you consider God and Satan as historical strategic thinkers). The only thing I've learned so far from this book is that you can write a very long book with very little content or purpose. Very disappointing.

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