Quote Originally Posted by EmmetM View Post
...and never truer in the case of Clausewitz, the reading of On War itself often hindered by the guidance of 'experts'. To illustrate, anecdotally, I've heard of John Keegan's surprisingly misguided A History of Warfare being withdrawn (belatedly) from recommended reading lists because of its unhelpful impact on strat studies/mil history students' grappling with the Prussian's concepts and impact.
Concur. Couple of points.
H. R. Smiths book on CvC is excellent, and there are now a few good CvC Companions.
The problem with Keegan and Van Creveld, is that they never read CvC, yet chose to take issue with him. Because they were "big names" people un-critically fell in behind their words.
If I have come to learn anything, the higher the rank, the greater the claimed experience, and the bigger the reputation, the less likely the book is to be of any value.