Victoria: A Novel of 4th Generation War

Fantastic book, address the 4th gen warefare model in a manner the average man can grasp. Very important. The horrors of war are real and unforgiving. Smart warfare, 4th gen is relatively new, it's a ground war, a financial war an eltronic's war, suppress the enemy anyway, anyhow. Beat him in the four disciplines, not just the physical battle field.My issue with this is simply this. Are other cultures, other races, and sexes, other religions capable? Other then the big three, nope. It's not that their note intellectually capable, it's simply outside of the scope and their infastructure, their belief systems.To understand this, one MUST, read Lind, Boyd, Robb, Kilcullen, Hart, even Doug Porch, to better understand the definitive stradegy in play with 4th gen warefare. " Sorry to be long winded" this book does a superb job of portraying/ modeling exactly within the United States, how to move the pieces, how to motivate, how to humiliate, to dominate one enemy, and their sponsors.This is a stradegy book penned in a novel format, which is the brilliance and skill of Mr.Lind. A must read if your a" Concerned Citizen"Respectfully.Dirk Williams

I am showing mercy by giving this book 2 stars; for if I gave it 1 star, such would send it not to the fires of being burned at the stake, but to the recycling bin.With 2 stars, I am allowing it to remain in my house - designated as toilet paper in case of the Zombie Apocalypse.With that out of the way, this story suffers three basic flaws:1. Murphy never visits - All good SHTF stories include multiple visits from Murphy; and how the characters deal with such, and manage to live. Even when things go wrong, everything turns out right (see #2). When I got to the end, I expected a reveal similar to the "Dream Season" of the TV show "Dallas" - nope.2. "So people stopped reading literature or much else and watched television instead" from p.560 is apt, as this story is the equivalent of printed television: stereotypical characters involved in plots that magically resolve in the final minutes because they are not bothered by intricate plot details.3. The theology is flawed. The main character's christianity is that of someone who sits in church on Sunday morning, and absorbs just enough of the Bible to endanger the immortal soul of not just himself, but those around him who look to him as one who 'eats meat' when all he does is 'drink milk'.So, a waste of money; a waste of time reading; and a demonstration that even at my age, I can be fooled.

The book is an introduction to the concepts of 4th generation warfare in the form of a novel written about future America. America undergoes a political, cultural, and economic collapse. The novel is one man's account of the efforts to rebuild the country using "retroculture."One caution. The characters in the book are attempting to re-create the culture of the Victorian period through 1950's America. The characters use language, racial/ethnic slurs, and very harsh generalizations that were common during this era. The language wouldn't be considered acceptable speech in modern culture.The use of these slurs is so common that it cannot be happenstance. I think the author is trying to give us a not so subtle warning that while some aspects of our past history are more desirable than our current situation, wholesale adoption of the ways of the past also means accepting the less desirable aspects of our history as well.I'm going to give this one a good rating, not because of exceptional writing style or great character development (those are both slightly lacking) but because the book made me think of some possibilities I had never considered. I am apolitical and am far from the extreme right-wing who might truly embrace all of the author's concepts of "the ideal," but I found that characters in the book (on all sides of the political and cultural spectrum) presented ideas that caused me to think deeply about some important issues.

I really, really wanted to like this one. I was looking forward into immersing myself into a story like this. Yeah, the preface was a little off putting--burning an Episcopalian? But what the heck, poetic license and all of that. And I liked the first chapter. It seemed to have a promising beginning! But then, page upon page of on the nose writing. The dialog was being used exclusively as exposition. The problem with telling a story in this manner, is that after a while, well, it gets boring. Nothing is happening to advance the plot. So it just kind of runs out of gas by the 5th Chapter. Now I don't know if I want to keep reading it. I have a lot of books to read, and I don't want to waste my time. I feel like I probably already wasted my money. But to be fair, I did stop at Chapter 5--who knows from there it might really take off, so keep that in mind, I may have simply stopped short. Maybe I'll come back to this one at some point. It's just a pity. I really wanted to like this one.I did come back to this book, and I finished it. My rating remains as is.

This book is about a future collapse of the United States and the rise of successor states. Be warned, if you are politicaly correct this book may not be for you. There is plenty of action both civil disobedience in the beginning and open warfare as the US falls apart. I felt at first that some of the discriptions of successor states and there ideologies were caricatures however while reading this book I also saw things in the news headlines that made me give the author the benefit of the doubt. Take it as a warning or just a good read.

Excellent novel. A fascinating exploration of the break up of the USA into various cultural identity groups. It is an exciting and fast paced story.

Interesting and entertaining book, the author has developed the book based on today's political/social environment and ran with it.

Very hard going. Despite using the name of an English philosopher the author deeply loves the authoritarian traditions of the Kingdom of Prussia rather than of Hobbes' liberal England.