Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present By Max Boot
Hardcover, 750 pages. Published 2013 by W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN: 978-0-87140-424-4
Max Boot attempts in Invisible Armies to construct a comprehensive catalogue of insurgency, terrorism, and revolution from antiquity to the 21st century. While his sketches are generally thin, and colored with his own neoconservative brush, the book provides a valuable encyclopedia for placing insurgencies in context. Boot’s categories are also useful as they reach beyond the normal list and challenge conventional assessments. For instance, Boot categorizes the first Ku Klux Klan as an insurgent and terrorist organization and makes a pretty strong case. Most American readers might prefer to leave the Klan off a list of insurgencies, particularly since Boot concludes they were largely successful in achieving their aims.
In conjunction with the book, Boot maintains the Invisible Armies Insurgency Tracker at the Council on Foreign Relations website (http://www.cfr.org/wars-and-warfare/invisible-armies-insurgency-tracker/p29917). The tracker, like the book, is a useful jumping off point for structuring research on insurgencies; however, the inability to download data in table form makes it more useful as a visual aid than as a tool for expanding and deepening research.
James W. Vizzard 