BACKGROUND BOOKS
"The art of war is of vital importance to the state," Chinese strategist Sun- tzu wrote 2,500 years ago. "It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence un- der no circumstances can it be ne- glected.'
Anyone hoping to build a library on U.S. defense policy should be- ware: Most books on the subject are out-of-date before they reach print, and few make for easy bedtime read- ing. "Policy intellectuals" tend to chase headlines-nuclear...