Perspectives on the American Way of War examines salient cases of American experience in irregular warfare, focusing upon the post-World War II era.

Introduction: Perspectives on the American way of war: the U.S. experience in irregular conflict Thomas A. Marks and Kirklin J. Bateman 1. The Mexican War: frontier expansion and selective incursion Craig A. Deare 2. Birth of the Cold War: irregular warfare first blood in Greece Andrew Novo 3. Organizing for the 'gray zone' fight: early Cold War realities and the CIA's Directorate of Operations David P. Oakley 4. Counterinsurgency in Vietnam - schizophrenia until too late Rufus Phillips 5. Turning gangsters into allies: the American way of war in Northern Afghanistan Matthew P. Dearing 6. Iraq, 2003-2011: succeeding to fail Jeanne Godfroy and Liam Collins 7. The American way of war in Africa: the case of Niger LTC Joseph Guido 8. Too little, too late: protecting American soft networks in COIN/CT Steve Miska and Samuel Romano 9. Systems failure: the US way of irregular warfare David H. Ucko