Low intensity operations; subversion, insurgency, peace-keeping

"Low Intensity Operations" is an important, controversial and prophetic book that has had a major influence on the conduct of modern warfare. First published in 1971, it was the result of an academic year Frank Kitson spent at University College, Oxford, under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence, to write a paper on the way in which the army should be prepared to deal with future insurgency and peacekeeping operations. In his foreword, General Sir Michael Carver wrote with percipience 'The necessity for the integration of intelligence and operations is his most important lesson and the one least appreciated by the conventional soldier. Frank Kitson's great virtue is that his above all a realist, in spite of being both an idealist and enthusiast. The reader will not finding these pages a purely academic theoretical exercise. He will, however, find something stimulating and original suggestions about the tasks which confront the Army in the field of 'low intensity operations' and about the methods which should be used both to prepare for and execute them.' For too long unavailable in the U.K. this ground-breaking work is as pertinent now as it was when first published; one only has to think of Afghanistan and Iraq to appreciate the sad truth of that. 'To understand the nature of revolutionary warfare, one cannot do better than read "Low Intensity Operations" ...The author has had unrivalled experience of such operations in many parts of the world' - "Daily Telegraph". 'A highly practical analysis of subversion, insurgency and peacekeeping operations ...Frank Kitson's book is not merely timely but important' - "The Economist".