About the Author

Louis DiMarco retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army in 2005 after more than 24 years of active service. His civilian education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree from the US Military Academy, a Masters in Military Art and Science from the US Army Command and Staff College, and a Masters of Arts Degree in International Relations. Currently Col. DiMarco is assigned to the faculty of the Army Command and Staff College, where he teaches military history and elective courses on the history of modern urban warfare and modern warfare in the Middle East. Col. DiMarco has authored several key Army doctrinal manuals including FM 3-06, Urban Operations (2002). Other written projects include the Army's Scout Platoon Field Manual (1994), and the first work in the Combat Studies Institute's Global War on Terror series entitled Traditions, Changes, and Challenges: Military Operations and the Middle Eastern City (2004). Col. DiMarco has written and lectured on a variety of military topics including urban warfare and counterinsurgency. His most recent work is an article entitled "Losing the Moral Compass: Torture and Guerre Revolutionanaire in the Algerian War.''

Reviews

This is an interesting look at an area of warfare that may well become increasingly important in any future conflicts, tracing the way it has developed since the battles of the Second World War. - John Rickyard, History of War.orgConcrete Hell is particularly relevant to those with an interest in ongoing conflicts in places such as Syria, as well as defence officials charged with developing concepts and doctrine for future military operations. The history of urban warfare, coupled with DiMarco's analysis, should give pause to anyone tempted to simplify the problem of future war or to assume that emerging technologies might permit future armed conflict to be waged remotely, rapidly and at low cost. - Survival: Global Politics and Strategy