A military can learn, adapt, and still lose the war. Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Colonel Cory Hollon join Gregory Hospidor and Sanders Marble to discuss why in After America’s First Battles, 1861–2008. From amphibious operations to air campaigns in Europe and Vietnam, the conversation examines why forces can change how they fight while leaving their assumptions about victory intact. Commanders, service culture, and bureaucratic barriers shape which lessons move beyond the battlefield and which remain trapped at the tactical level. For strategists, the challenge is recognizing when better execution leaves the larger problem unsolved.

If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at bookstobattles@au.af.edu

The opinions expressed here are those of the hosts or the guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of the Air Force, the Depart of Defense or War, or the United States Government.

Books Mentioned

Charles E. Heller and William A. Stofft, America's First Battles, 1776-1965 (UP of Kansas, 1986).

In this episode of Books to Battles, Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Colonel Cory Hollon welcome Lieutenant Colonel Rachel Reynolds to discuss Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire and its connections to the Foundations of International Politics course. Poetry, memory technology, and an imperial succession struggle become ways to examine soft power, domestic politics, and strategies of denial. The discussion asks whether institutions can survive without the military power behind them and how smaller powers can make conquest costly. For strategists, the challenge is choosing the theory that helps explain the problem in front of them. Throughout, the hosts examine what fiction reveals about the possibilities and limits of applying international relations theories to complex strategic problems.

If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at bookstobattles@au.af.edu

Books Mentioned

John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (WW Norton & Co., 2014).

Robert O. Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in World Political Economy (Princeton UP, 2004).

Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics (Cambridge UP, 1981).

Jeff Pearlman, Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur (Mariner Books, 2025).

Everett Dolman, Pure Strategy: Power and Principle in the Space and Information Age (Routledge, 2005).

The opinions expressed here are those of the hosts or the guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of the Air Force, the Depart of Defense or War, or the United States Government.

In this episode of Books to Battles, Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Col. Cory Hollon speak with Dr. Rob Hutchinson, SAASS Dean of Academics, about the school’s field study in Germany and its role in educating strategists. They explain how student research and discussions at historical sites connect classroom study to enduring questions about airpower, great-power competition, and the human consequences of strategic decisions. Stops including the Fulda Gap, Schweinfurt, Dresden, and Berlin provide opportunities to examine defense planning, strategic bombing, and the Berlin Airlift. Visits to Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora prompt discussion of the relationship between Nazi war production, forced labor, and the subsequent development of space technology. The conversation also explores how museums and memorials construct historical narratives and how engagements with American and German officials connect those histories to contemporary European security. The trip brings abstract strategic problems into contact with terrain, human suffering, and the choices facing an ally today.

If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at bookstobattles@au.af.edu

Books Mentioned

Joseph Maiolo, Cry Havoc: The Arms Race and the Second World War, 1931–1941 (Basic Books, 2012).

The opinions expressed here are those of the hosts or the guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense or War, or the United States Government.

In this episode of Books to Battles, Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb and Col. Cory Hollon welcome Dr. Jared McKinney, Dr. Chris Colley, and Col. James Day to discuss their contributions to Strategy and Airpower in the East and South China Sea. Colley examines the gap between the announced U.S. pivot to Asia and changes in military force posture, including its effects on Chinese perceptions. McKinney explores alternative U.S. responses to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, including support short of direct war and scenarios in which Chinese actions could draw the United States into conflict. Day and Hollon discuss how airpower and joint all-domain operations could strengthen deterrence through survivability, flexibility, and temporary operational advantages. The discussion tests strategic ambitions against operational realities while asking whether Americans adequately understand the Chinese calculations they hope to influence.

If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at bookstobattles@au.af.edu

Books Mentioned

Michael A. Hunzeker and Mark A. Christopher, America’s Taiwan Dilemma: Allies’ Reactions and the Stakes for US Reputation (Cambria Press, 2025).

Jared McKinney, ed., Closing the Deterrence Gap in the Taiwan Straits (Air University Press, 2026, projected).

Jessica Chen Weiss, What China Wants: And What It Means for the World (Oxford University Press, 2027).

Henry Kissinger, On China (Penguin Books, 2012).

Amos C. Fox and Franz-Stefan Gady, eds., Multidomain Operations: The Pursuit of Battlefield Dominance in the 21st Century (Howgate Publishing Limited, 2026).

Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton University Press).

X. “The Sources of Soviet Conduct.” Foreign Affairs 25, no. 4 (1947): 566–82.

The opinions expressed here are those of the hosts or the guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense or War, or the United States Government.

The United States has publicly acknowledged on-orbit space control weapons for the first time. What does that announcement mean for deterrence, strategy, and the future of military competition in space? Dr. Derrick Frazier joins Books to Battles to unpack Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink’s remarks, explore the strategic logic behind space weapons, and consider how greater transparency about U.S. capabilities could shape an increasingly contested domain.

In the latest installment of our fiction-a-month series, Books to Battles takes on Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity. Through the lens of SAASS’s Airpower in the Age of Total War course, we explore the novel’s portrayal of air warfare, intelligence, resistance, and sacrifice during World War II. The conversation considers how fiction illuminates the human dimensions of airpower and the complex relationship between technology, strategy, and those who wage war.

What happens when the mission arrives before the military is ready for it? In this episode of Books to Battles, Col. Cory Hollon speaks with Lt. Col. Ryan Hess and Maj. Elizabeth Townsend, thesis award winners from SAASS Class XXXV, about how military organizations adapt to unfamiliar demands. Townsend examines General Moorman’s role in integrating space capabilities into military operations and his evolving views on an independent Space Force. Hess explores Task Force Holloman’s reception of Afghan evacuees during Operation Allies Welcome, emphasizing leadership, interagency cooperation, and cultural understanding. Both cases reveal how much depends on leaders who can build relationships across organizations, give people room to act, and adapt as circumstances change. However, success can obscure the improvisation and communication failures that helped shape the outcome. Together, they discuss mission command, the limits of preparation, and the challenge of turning improvised successes into lasting institutional improvements.

If you have questions, comments, or episode recommendations, please email us at bookstobattles@au.af.edu

The opinions expressed here are those of the hosts or the guests and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of the Air Force, the Depart of Defense, or the United States Government.

Dr. Wendy Whitman Cobb sits down with China scholar Lyle Morris to explore critical blind spots in the study of China’s military and strategic behavior. Drawing on his latest work, Morris examines the assumptions that shape Western analysis of China and identifies the political, military, economic, and international factors that could influence Beijing’s decision-making over Taiwan. The conversation highlights what analysts may be missing—and why it matters for strategy.