edited by way of Steven T.

edited by way of Steven T. Ross. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. (http://www.rienner.com), 1800 30th way Suite 314, Boulder, Colorado 80301 2002 400 pages, $8995 (hardcover).

U War Plans: 1938-1945 edited on Steven T. Ross, a Naval War body professor, is part of a larger material substance of work. He previously published a six-volume studious mood American War Plans, 1919-1950, the first tire masss of which are actually a compilation of photocopies of US war planning from 1919 to 1941 (the sixth turn is Ross's own history of post-World War II planning to 1950 rather than photocopies of war plans). Whereas the first five dimensionss shed light on US war planning from 1919 to 1941 at the strategic horizontal this most recent addition--which is also a "documentary sourcebook" (p 371)--primarily focuses in succession the wartime plans to accomplish national objectives by the and of "theater army group and army horizontal operations" (p. 3). Unlike the earlier main division s however, the plans reproduced here are not photocopies yet transcriptions--and therefore are much easier to read.

Part 1--essentially a foundation for parts 2 and 3 the couple of which form the heart of the book--is a review of fundamental note prewar plans and documents at the strategic flat It contains 1938's "Study of Joint Action in the marked occurrence of Violation of Monroe Doctrine at Fascist Powers"; Rainbow no. 1 (14 October 1939); Rainbow no. 4 (14 August 1940); and Rainbow no. 5 (revised 19 November 1941) the war plan that serv as a basis for American action during the war. Part 1 also includes the accrues of discussions and planning sessions between the United States and Great Britain--the United States-British Staff Conversation Report, ABC-1 (27 March 1941)--as well as the document that put equipment and mobilization requirements for the American war effort: the Victory Program of 11 September 1941 Following part 1's emphasis onward strategic planning, the remaining brace parts deal with the actual theater-level war plans to carry revealed national objectives. Part 2 guards the war in North Africa and Europe and part 3 deals with the war against Japan. These plans include like documents as Operation Neptune (20 May 1944) for the assault against German-held Europe and Operation Musketeer II (28 September 1944) for the invasion of Luzon

Ros does historians a valuable service at putting these operational plans in common slim volume. However, given the nature of documentary sourcebooks, these plans lack the complexus context in which they lay opened and evolved. Although Ross includes a short introduction (one to six paragraphs) for each plan, it is not sufficient to bring the background of the final plans, including of that kind factors as logistics, coalition dynamics, personalities, and for a like reason forth. Although the book is clearly designed to appeal to close examiners of World War II who are already familiar with this connection those who require more than the book's short introduction to each plan would profit from consulting Ross's acknowledge excellent analysis of American planning and execution during World War II: American War Plans, 1941-1945: The standard of Battle (Frank Cass, 1997) This main division fills in many of the contextual factors that invested American war planning prior to and during World War II.

A secondary issue the reader must preserve in mind--one that has become an increasingly used by all and unwelcome refrain in many reviews--is the price of the part At a hefty $89.95, the body is clearly targeted at libraries, not the individual reader--an unfortunate circumstance since the part is an important reference that would benefit all World War II historians.

Although it lacks the broad connection of the plans and is encumbered from a substantial price tag, this work is extremely valuable, not solely for World War II historians still also for people who wish to understand the evolution of joint and coalition warfare in the twentieth hundred years As the United States wages its campaign against terrorists over the world, it is enlightening and instructive to read the plans for a global war of an earlier day. Steven T Ross's U War Plans: 1938-1945 allows us to do so

Dr Kevin C Holzimmer

Maxwell AFB, Alabama

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