Naval War College Review Volume 66 Article 13 Number 3 Summer

2013 The wT ilight War: The ecrS et History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran Daniel Dolan

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Recommended Citation Dolan, Daniel (2013) "The wT ilight War: The eS cret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran," Naval War College Review: Vol. 66 : No. 3 , Article 13. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol66/iss3/13

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 148 NAval waDolan:r co Thellege Twilight revie War:w The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Con

(comprising three-quarters of the world) Reducing a topic this complex into only to serve specific interests. Though one volume is inherently an exercise in those interests are expanding, most intellectual triage, and some topics are of the finite attention Chinese leaders naturally underrepresented. Issues of give to international issues focuses on cyber warfare, the Internet, and the challenges within and near its borders. political impact of new media are Presenting China’s obsession with its touched on, but their full complexities territorial integrity, Scobell and Na- as mechanisms of Chinese soft power, than explain Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong potential threats to regime stability, or Kong, and Taiwan in a sophisticated means of economic espionage are not and integrated overall context. They fully explored. Consideration of People’s conclude that China is not expansionist Liberation Army capabilities, while but rather unyielding within its identi- deftly crafted, comprises less than forty fied historical claims. By focusing on pages. The Chinese navy’s three years these four core geographic areas and of sustained operations in the Gulf of relegating discussion of the South China Aden are mentioned only in passing. Sea and the Senkaku Islands to chap- Readers interested in details of Chinese ters on China’s relations with Japan and military capabilities and institutions will Southeast Asia, however, the authors want to consult more specialized texts. understate the sometimes elastic nature With this limited caveat, China’s Search of Chinese claims. In this context, the for Security is the best one-volume authors’ focus on elite political decision introduction to Chinese security issues making arguably underrepresents the in print. At once rigorous and read- growing impact of popular national- able, it offers U.S. Navy officers headed ism on high-profile sovereignty issues. to the Pacific a chance to consider Nationalism, they concede, is “the only the region through a Chinese lens. important value still shared by the Specialist readers may disagree with regime and its critics” in Chinese society. specific points of interpretation but Finally, Scobell and Nathan present the will be impressed by the scope of the instruments of Chinese power, focus- survey and the synthesis presented. ing a chapter each on the economic, c ommander dale c. rielage, usn military, and “soft power” tools at the disposal of the Chinese Communist Party. They conclude by offering three possible trajectories for Chinese devel- opment: economic success and au- Crist, David. The Twilight War: The Secret History thoritarianism (the “Singapore model”), of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran. New political democratization, and regime York: Penguin, 2012. 638pp. $22 failure. The authors do not betray which Author David Crist writes, “Conspiracy of these outcomes they view as most theories abound in the Middle East in likely. Consistent with their presenta- part because there frequently are so tion of the Chinese point of view, they many conspiracies.” Every chapter of conclude that China no more knows The Twilight War pulls back the curtain its own future than does anyone else. and sheds new light on many previously

Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2013 1 Naval War College Review, Vol. 66 [2013], No. 3, Art. 13 book reviews 149

undisclosed and often underappreciated Iranian Revolution on the grounds that events that have shaped U.S.-Iranian these are the years of direct conflict and relations. This masterfully researched competition with Iran. It is clear that historical account focuses on U.S.- this decision allows for a more focused Iranian relations since the fall of the examination of the current regime, as shah of Iran and the beginning of the well as the events that are currently Iranian Revolution. The policy and strat- shaping our world. Those interested in egy decisions of the past six U.S. presi- prerevolutionary U.S.-Iranian relations dents, covert CIA operations, Iranian may wish to read Stephen Kinzer’s All actions and reactions, and the struggle the Shah’s Men (Wiley Press, 2008). to create the present-day U.S. Central General James Mattis has made The Twi- Command are all detailed in this book. light War required reading for members David Crist works as a historian for the of the U.S. Central Command staff. This federal government and as a frequent insightful and intellectually provoca- adviser to senior government and tive book should be required reading military officials. He is also a colonel in in fact for all military professionals the Marine Corps Reserve and a veteran who wish to gain a better understand- of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His ing of what many in the profession of research for this work included inter- arms consider the most likely reason for views and access to records of many military conflict in the next decade. of the principal decision makers on daniel dolan both sides. The Twilight War comes Naval War College at a critical time in the relationship between the United States and Iran. If plotted on a graph, the thirty-year chronology of events between the United States and Iran would look like two op- Smith, Jean Edward. Eisenhower: In War and posing synchronized sine waves: when Peace. New York: Random House, 2012. 951pp. one is up, the other is down, and never $40 the two shall meet. Crist’s engaging When you mention Dwight David account provides never-before-revealed “Ike” Eisenhower, far too many people insights into the near, and often missed, will hark back either to D-Day and the opportunities for reconciliation between invasion of Normandy or to a mythical, both countries. In what could sometimes almost lyrical presidency, when life was pass for a Sophoclean tragedy, if not good, three martinis accompanied every for the very real consequences, these lunch, and gas cost pennies a gallon. two opposing nations cannot seem to The truth, of course, is far different and get in step long enough to find ways far more interesting. In Eisenhower Jean to resolve their standing grievances. Edward Smith has produced what may Some readers may criticize Crist’s lack well be the best one-volume biography of detail on the complex history of on this figure. The book moves fast Iran during the reign of the American- and yet manages to leave nothing out. supported shah. Crist explains his In illuminating Dwight D. Eisenhower, decision to pick up the story of U.S.- Smith steps adroitly and rapidly through Iranian relations at the time of the the years of his life, maintaining the https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol66/iss3/13 2