Three Faces of Sun Tzu : Analyzing Sun Tzu's Art of War, a Manual on Strategy / Scott Boorman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boorman, Scott, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military art and science.

Strategy.

War.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 534 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, England : Cambridge University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Sun Tzu's Art of War is widely regarded as the most influential military & strategic classic of all time. Through "reverse engineering" of the text structured around 14 Sun Tzu "themes," this rigorous analysis furnishes a thorough picture of what the text actually says, drawing on Chinese-language analyses, historical, philological, & archaeological sources, traditional commentaries, computational ideas, and strategic & logistics perspectives. Building on this anchoring, the book provides a unique roadmap of Sun Tzu's military and intelligence insights and their applications to strategic competitions in many times and places worldwide, from Warring States China to contemporary US/China strategic competition and other 21st century competitions involving cyber warfare, computing, other hi-tech conflict, espionage, and more. Simultaneously, the analysis offers a window into Sun Tzu's limitations and blind spots relevant to managing 21st century strategic competitions with Sun-Tzu-inspired adversaries or rivals"-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Frontispiece

Title page

Imprints page

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

Author's Note on Chinese-Language Romanization

Author's Note on Chinese Characters

Author's Note on Online Annex

Chronology of Chinese History

List of Abbreviations for Frequently Cited Works

Introduction

Three Faces of Sun Tzu

Overview of the Present Approach

Broader Perspectives on Reading Sun Tzu

Themes #1-#14 Chapters As Self-contained Units

Background: Historical and Textual

Military and Other Historical Context

Anchoring in Chinese Text of Sun Tzu

Perspective on Sun Tzu's Commentators (and Romance of the Three Kingdoms)

Preliminaries

Basic Military Terms and Concepts: Strategy, Tactics, Logistics, Operations

Format Used to Structure Development of the Fourteen Sun Tzu Themes

Notational Conventions

A Strategist Should Be Calculating

Theme #1 Net Assessment and Other Calculational Imperatives

Theme #2 Terrain Classification and Rules

B Strategist Should Be Cheap

Theme #3 Seeking Large, Cheap Gains and Avoiding Protracted War

Theme #4 Winning without Fighting, by Non-military Ways and Means

C Strategist Should Find Advantage

Theme #5 Concept of Shi (Strategic Advantage) and Four Paths to Shi

Theme #6 Attacking the Adversary's Strategy

D Strategist Should Enact Stratagems and Formlessness

Theme #7 ''All Warfare Is Based on Deception''

Theme #8 Achieving Formlessness and Opacity

E Strategist Should Make a Situation's Natural Dynamics Work for Her

Theme #9 Building on Natural Forces and Momentum

Theme #10 No Scruples and Controlled Viciousness

F Strategist Should Have an Accurate Grasp of the Significant Information

Theme #11 Know the Enemy

Theme #12 Know Yourself (and Other Non-hostile Actors and Audiences)

G Strategist Should Manage the Interfaces

Theme #13 Leadership and Harmony in the Chain of Command (and Avoiding Its Pathologies)

Theme #14 Harmonious Integration of Qi and Zheng Approaches in Strategy and Tactics

Conclusion: Demystifying Sun Tzu and Future Directions

A Structure for Sun Tzu: The Fourteen Themes

Reality Check: Sun Tzu's Limitations

Sun Tzu As Prophet and Pioneering Theorist of Information Warfare

A Sun Tzu for the Twenty-first Century

Indices

Index A

Index B.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 07 Mar 2024).

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781108639903

1108639909

9781108592321

1108592325

9781108686877

1108686877