William R. Polk (1929–2020)

Polk is one of my favorite authors on history and politics. In this volume, he turns to the problem of violence in politics, specifically insurgencies or guerrilla warfare. Polk believes that insurgencies share common characteristics. Most importantly, they boil down to the natives vs. foreigners. Though the foreign invaders may seem to have a military advantage in superior arms, numbers, and training, the only way, in the end, to beat an insurgency is to commit genocide against the people show more native to that land. They know the land too well, will attack and then disappear where the invaders can't follow.

The insurgencies have followed other patterns. They usually start with only a handful of people, and few arms. They first disrupt the government, then begin providing government-like services themselves. They organize on the local level. They are generally responses to incredible levels of brutality and injustice by the foreigners. The foreigners respond with more brutality, which drives more of the populace to support the insurgents.

Polk covers a variety of insurgencies. Interestingly, the first one he chooses is the American Revolution, which he counts as a guerrilla war, though Washington kept trying to turn it into a regular war, and when he did he was beaten by the British, who were, again, superior in men, weapons, and training. Then he covers the Spanish resistance to the French under Napoleon. the Philippine insurrection, the Irish struggle for independence, Tito and the Yugoslav partisans, the Greek resistance, Kenya and the Mau Mau, the Algerian war of national independence, the Vietnamese struggle against the French, the Americans take over for the French in Vietnam, and the Afghan resistance to the British an the Russians.

All of these have their unique features and their similarities. Polk draws lessons for the war in Iraq, and he is also highly concerned about the neoconservative conception of the "Long War" that envisions many American wars for much of the 21st century, which claim to want to spread democracy and is anti-Muslim. The last chapter includes an interesting analysis of the Counterinsurgency Field Manual, edited by David Patraeus and James Amos, and shows where analysis of insurgency shows the manual to be flawed. For example, the manual speaks glowingly of nation building. But, Polk argues, "Look at the American experience. American forces have been sent abroad to fight more than two hundred times since our country was founded. But in recent years only sixteen times have we attempted 'the core objective of nation building...regime change or survivability.' Of these sixteen, Minxin Pei and Sara Kaper found in a study for the Carnegie Endowment, eleven were 'outright failures'. Two, Germany and Japan, can be considered successes, while two others, tiny and nearby Granada and Panama, were probably successful. Considering this record, John Tierney asked in the May 17th, 2004, International herald Tribune, how could neoconservatives or any conservatives 'who normally do not trust their government to run a public school down the street, come to believe that federal bureaucrats could transform an entire nation in the alien culture of the Middle East?"

Polk talks some about his background in the first part of the book. He was not only an academic, but part of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and saw much of the intelligence and other government documentation on insurgencies while there. He was particularly involved in Vietnam, Algeria, and Afghanistan. He tells a fascinating story of studying all he could find on Vietnam in 1962, and not finding any study of guerrilla warfare, not even a definition. So he took six weeks off to study everything he could find on insurgency, and was invited to speak to a graduating class of senior military officers headed for combat in Vietnam. He told them at the time that the war was already lost, because Ho Chi Minh had won the political issue by becoming the embodiment of Vietnamese nationalism, and had already so disrupted the South Vietnamese government it had basically ceased to function. His military audience was furious, but when in 1967 he told them much the same thing they were listening and hearing what he had to say.

Highly recommended. show less

Polk is a favorite author of mine since I discovered him this last spring (2007). This book talks about the influences of trade, war, and other factors on foreign relations. It ranges through all of history and all the globe, yet makes a coherent narrative. Could be an excellent starting point for studying foreign affairs, rather like Guns, Germs, and Steel is an excellent starting point to the study of history.

Attempting to understand a culture of today cannot be limited to just this generation or even the generation before that. To fully understand any culture, the researcher has to go back to the beginning and examine the history from that moment until today. In regard to the rich culture of Iran, William R. Polk attempts to do just that in his book, Understanding Iran: Everything You Need to Know, From Persia to the Islamic Republic, From Cyrus to Ahmadinejad.

Polk starts as far back as in show more history as possible for Iran. From there he discusses the cultural, ethnic, and national identity of being Iranian. It is not just a matter of descending from those that lived there for generations. It is not just claiming a home there. It is much more intricate. The book explores the history of rulers and the impact each new wave of leadership brought upon the people who lived in the region known now as Iran. The see-saw of strong ruler with that of weak ones kept the nation in turmoil and laid the foundation of much of the problems of today. The book dives further into the European influence, revolutionary veins, and the explosion of that revolutionary wave leading to a unique Iran of today with strained ties to the world around it.
The author sets out to understand the Iran of today by looking into the past starting with the original Persians. What most of the world knows about Iran is based on the struggles over the nation and the resources it possesses. Polk strove to get beyond the United States/Iran issue or the Britain/Iran issue and discover “what it means when we speak of Iran and Iranians.” He wanted to get to the heart of the people and culture.

Understanding Iran is a very comprehensive book that does not start during the Persian and Greek wars. It does not start with the end of World War I. It starts at the beginning to get a more complete picture of the subject at hand: Iran and its people. The fact that the book is so encompassing and looks beyond stereotypes makes it a valuable resource. Polk does an excellent job of taking all aspects of the Iranian world (culture, history, and political) and bringing into a logical and understandable kaleidoscope. He lays out clearly how Iran’s past is not something to be swept under the rug as it is “directly remembered by modern Iranians because it is being constantly reinforced” through its own cultural activities, its politics, and its interaction between the rest of the world.

As Polk desired to reveal more of the true Iran and everything that influenced what it has become today, the result was success. He states in an easy to read manner how Iran did not live in a bubble. The world within the boundaries and the world without had huge impacts on what one sees if they walked the streets of the Iranian cities and villages today. He clearly shows how the past is the present redefined and matured whether it is seen in a good or a bad light. There is no doubt what Iran is. Misconceptions are easily tossed aside as Polk examines the evidence in an objective and concise manner. The book could easily have been three times the size it was published at, but Polk wrote in a manner that was not lengthy yet to the point. He takes a country that “has had one of the world’s richest and most fascinating historical experiences” and gives the reader a glimpse into that past without having to spend weeks reading volumes of material.

The book is set up in a manner that can be read just to learn more and not as an academic manner. This is beneficial in encouraging the learning of the history and culture of Iran while not limiting it to those in the upper educational classrooms. It is also laid out for easy search if one is using it for academic purposes with a well laid out index and an extensive notes sections as well as bibliography. The book alone would make a valuable resource tool, but it also helps the eager learner to explore further than the book in their hands.

Missing from the book was any additional material in the form of maps, charts, or images. The book is not designed too much for the visual learner. The layout of the chapter is not broken out in sections with headings for easy reading retention or for research. Much is absent that would help enhance the book or bring about a more in depth learning. The visual reinforcement is not present in this book. show less

This is a broad overview of the arab world from pre-islamic times up to what may be considered the modern era. Polk spends rather less time than I would like on pre-islamic and early islamic history, and rather too much time on the post-wwII arab world, but it is a textbook and the records from the 20th century are considerably easier to examine than records for antiquity, so I will cut him some slack. It's a good overview of contemporary thought about the arab world, both from within and show more without, and how western and eastern intervention and meddling have destabilized, but also brought a sense of identity, to the region. Not a *fun* read, but a decent one. show less