Based on his personal experience, Wiarda provides a candid and critical analysis of the military-civilian academic cultural divide at NWC, the failure of the military to assign officers with requisite academic qualifications and dispositions to leadership positions at NWC and the National Defense University, and the adverse consequences of this failure on the open exchange of ideas and critical thinking required for future military and civilian leaders. The reforms that Wiarda suggests, notably placing more civilians in key leadership positions and empowering the faculty in decision-making, deserve serious consideration.

Roy Stafford, former National War College academic dean and professor

Howard Wiarda's book hits home by exposing the problems with higher military education and demonstrates that students, rather than faculty, run the institution. He shows the need for major reforms if US military education hopes to compete with its civilian counterparts.

Dale R. Herspring, Kansas State University