Fred Kaplan is the national-security columnist for Slate and the author of five previous books, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War (a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller), 1959, Daydream Believers, and The Wizards of Armageddon. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Brooke Gladstone.
“A consistently eye-opening history of our government’s efforts to
effectively manage our national security in the face of the largely
open global communications network established by the World Wide
Web. . . . The great strengths of Dark Territory . . . are the
depth of its reporting and the breadth of its ambition. . . . The
result is not just a page-turner but consistently surprising. . . .
One of the most important themes that emerges from Mr. Kaplan’s
nuanced narrative is the extent to which defense and offense are
very much two sides of the same coin. . . . The biggest surprise of
Dark Territory is the identity of the most prominent domestic
heroes and villains in the “secret history.” . . . Dark Territory
is the rare tome that leaves the reader feeling generally good
about their civilian and military leadership.”
*The New York Times*
“A book that grips, informs and alarms, finely researched and
lucidly related.”
*John le Carré*
“Dark Territory captures the troubling but engrossing narrative of
America’s struggle to both exploit the opportunities and defend
against the risks of a new era of global cyber-insecurity.
Assiduously and industriously reported. . . . Kaplan recapitulates
one hack after another, building a portrait of bewildering systemic
insecurity in the cyber domain. . . . One of the deep insights of
Dark Territory is the historical understanding by both theorists
and practitioners that cybersecurity is a dynamic game of offense
and defense, each function oscillating in perpetual
competition.”
*The Washington Post*
“An important, disturbing, and gripping history arguing
convincingly that, as of 2015, no defense exists against a
resourceful cyberattack.”
*Kirkus Reviews, starred review*
“Kaplan dives into a topic which could end up being just as
transformational to national security affairs as the nuclear age
was. The book opens fast and builds from there, providing insights
from research that even professionals directly involved in cyber
operations will not have gleaned. . . . You will love this
book.”
*CTOvision.com*
“Fascinating . . . To understand how deeply we have drifted into
legally and politically uncharted waters, read Kaplan’s new book,
Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War.”
*The Washington Post*
EDITORS' CHOICE
*New York Times Book Review*
“Chilling . . . Kaplan is one of America’s leading writers on
national security, and his accounts of cyberattacks are gripping .
. . assiduously researched.”
*The Times (London)*
“Peppered with many fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes . . . A
readable and informative history.”
*The New York Times Book Review*
A “Hot Type” Book Pick for March 2016
*Vanity Fair*
A “Hot Tech Book of 2016”
*Tech Republic*
“Worthy of any spy thriller. . . a strong narrative flow . . .
impressivelydetailed . . . deeplyrelevant . . . vital.”
*The National (UAE)*
“Jarring . . . a rich, behind-the-headlines history of our
government’s efforts to make policy for the jaw-dropping
vulnerabilities of our ever-increasing dependence on computers. . .
. Kaplan renders a vivid account of the long struggle waged by
presidents, bureaucrats, generals, private-sector CEOs, and privacy
advocates . . . Kaplan enjoys considerable credibility in defense
circles, but he guides us through the dark territory of cyber
conflict with an omniscient-narrator voice reminiscent of Bob
Woodward’s behind-the-scenes books. . . . Today, Kaplan argues, it
is precisely U.S. pre-eminence in the network connectivity that
makes us the most vulnerable target in the world to cyber
sabotage.”
*Washington Independent Review of Books*
“Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist Fred Kaplan’s taut, urgent
history traces the dual trajectory of digital surveillance and
intervention, and high-level US policy from the 1980s on.”
*NATURE*
“Dark Territory is a remarkable piece of reporting. Fred Kaplan has
illuminated not merely the profound vulnerabilities of our nation
to cyber warfare, but why it has taken so long for our
policy-makers to translate indifference into concern and concern
into action. This is a vitally important book by a meticulous
journalist.”
*Ted Koppel, author of Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation
Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath*
“A fascinating account of the people and organizations leading the
way towards a cyber war future.”
*Dorothy E. Denning, author of Information Warfare and Security,
1st Inductee, National Cyber Security Hall of Fame*
“Everyone has heard the term 'cyber warfare.' Very few people could
explain exactly what it means and why it matters. Dark Territory
solves that problem with an account that is both fascinating and
authoritative. Fred Kaplan has put the people, the technologies,
the dramatic turning points, and the strategic and economic stakes
together in a way no author has done before.”
*James Fallows, national correspondent, The Atlantic*
“Revealing. . . . On a vital current-events topic, the
well-connected Kaplan’s well-sourced history gives readers much to
ponder.”
*Booklist*
Praise for The Insurgents:
“Thrilling reading . . . A fascinating history . . . The Insurgents
proceeds like a whodunit . . . An authoritative, gripping and
somewhat terrifying account of how the American military approached
two major wars in the combustible Islamic world . . . There is no
one better equipped to tell the story than Fred Kaplan, a rare
combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter . . .
He brings genuine expertise to his fine storytelling.”
*NYT Book Review*
“One of the very best books ever written about the American
military in the era of small wars . . . Fred Kaplan brings a
formidable talent for writing intellectual history.”
*The New York Review of Books*
“Riveting . . . essential reading . . . Kaplan's meticulous account
of the ways Petraeus found to bring together and nurture the
counterinsurgency 'cabal' might profitably be read by anyone
interested in bringing change to a giant bureaucracy.”
*The Daily Beast*
“Serious and insightful . . . The Insurgents seems destined to be
one of the more significant looks at how the US pursued the war in
Iraq, and at the complex mind of the general in charge when the
tide turned.”
*Los Angeles Times*
“Excellent . . . An intellectual thriller.”
*Time*
“A very readable, thoroughly reported account of how, in American
military circles, 'counterinsurgency' became a policy instead of a
dirty word.”
*New York Times*
“Kaplan has a gift for bringing to life what might otherwise seem
like arcane strategic debates by linking them to the personalities
and biographies of the main participants, and he vividly captures
the drama of Petraeus' struggle against a Pentagon
establishment.”
*Foreign Affairs*
“Excellent . . . Poignant and timely . . . A good read, rich in
texture and never less than wise.”
*Foreign Policy*
“Compelling”
*The New Yorker*
“A must-read for military and national security professionals . . .
Prodigious detail . . . earthy information about the human foibles
of the participants.”
*Washington Times*
Praise for Daydream Believers:
“Illuminating . . . incisive.”
*The New York Times*
“A lively and entertaining—if occasionally horrifying—read . . .
Like a master archaeologist who can see through the shards and
stones of a dig to reconstruct the culture of the city below,
Kaplan lays out all the failures, omissions, and delusions of Bush
administration officials. The result is an account of the
pathologies . . . of Washington itself . . . a caution about the
limits of purely military power and the dangers of seeing the world
as a morality play.”
*The Washington Post Book World*
“Excellent and devastating . . . Go, please, and buy Kaplan’s book.
His great work deserves attention and reward.”
*Time*
“The inside history of our time, told with precision and
confidence, by an author who knows where the secrets are kept.”
*Thomas E. Ricks, author of Fiasco*
“Fred Kaplan has long been one of our most incisive thinkers about
strategic issues. In this provocative book, he challenges many of
our assumptions about the post-9/11 world and offers a dose of
realism about the way the world actually works after the end of the
Cold War. It’s a bracing read.”
*Walter Isaacson*
Praise for The Wizards of Armageddon:
“Fascinating . . . It contains much that is not only new but
stunning about the nation’s official thinking and planning for
nuclear war.”
*Washington Post Book World*
“An absorbing work . . . The story of the remarkable civilians who
developed the novel field of nuclear strategy—men such as Bernard
Brodie, William Kaufmann, Albert Wohlstetter, and Herman Kahn—is
told admirably well. Even those who are familiar with this story
will find fascinating details here.”
*Foreign Affairs*
“Like most people, I know that nuclear strategy is a subject of
crucial importance—but shy away from it as too forbidding. Reading
Fred Kaplan, I understand and want to learn more. He brings the
subject to life with human example and an understanding so sure
that he can explain the unthinkable.”
*New York Times*
“[The] definitive intellectual history of early nuclear
deterrence.”
*Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |