"In Anatomy of Failure, Harlan Ullman asserts that presidents and administrations have consistently failed to use sound strategic thinking and lacked sufficient understanding of the circumstances prior to deciding whether or not to employ force. He analyses the records of presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama and Donald Trump in using force or starting wars. His recommended solutions begin with a "brains-based" approach to sound strategic thinking to address one of the major causes of failure--the inexperience of too many of the nation's commanders-in-chief. Ullman reinforces his argument through the use of autobiographical vignettes that in some cases making public previously unknown history."--Provided by publisher.

A simple truth shaped by moments of war -- An analytical view of why we fail -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the USSR, and the path to Vietnam -- Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Vietnam catastrophe, Richard Milhous Nixon, and James Earl Carter -- Ronald Wilson Reagan: evil empires and Star Wars -- George Herbert Walker Bush: Panama, Desert Storm, the end of the Soviet Union, Europe whole and free, and the unintended consequences of "the New World Order" -- William Jefferson Clinton, the bottom-up force, Black Hawk down, NATO expansion, Yugoslavia, and the rise of al Qaeda -- George Walker Bush and the Global War on Terror, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Russia -- Barack Hussein Obama: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq Libya, Iran, Syria, and the pivot East, and the first days of Donald John Trump as president -- How to win: history counts -- The way forward: a brains-based approach to sound strategic thinking.