RAND Best Sellers for March 2008
The books listed below are RAND's top-ten, best sellers for March 2008. You can find these and other RAND publications in bookstores; they may also be ordered through RAND. Also see RAND Book Reviews.
1.
Mars Unmasked: The Changing Face of Urban Operations
This monograph is a case study analysis of three recent urban operations. The three cases examined-Panama in 1989, Somalia in 1992-1993, and Chechnya in 1994-1996-capture the range of political constraints that military forces must operate under in urban environments.
2.
Assessing the Tradecraft of Intelligence Analysis
This report assesses intelligence analysis across the main U.S. intelligence agencies and makes a number of recommendations, some of which parallel initiatives that have begun in the wake of the December 2004 legislation, for instance, create a Deputy Director of National Intelligence as a focal point for analysis, establish a National Intelligence University, build a Long Term Analysis Unit at the National Intelligence Council, and form an Open Source Center for making more creative use of open-source materials.
3.
Invisible Women: Junior Enlisted Army Wivess
Military manpower policy is often crafted by policymakers without an in-depth understanding of the life experiences and views of junior enlisted personnel. At the center of this book are the personal stories of three junior enlisted spouses, told in their own voices and selected to emphasize the dilemmas numerous enlisted families face.
4.
The Beginner's Guide to Nation Building
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States, NATO, the United Nations, and a range of other states and nongovernmental organizations have become increasingly involved in nation-building operations. This volume presents a comprehensive history of best practices in nation-building and serves as an indispensable reference for planning future interventions.
5.
Women and Nation Building
Using a case study of Afghanistan, this study examines gender-specific impacts of conflict and post-conflict and the ways they may affect women differently than they affect men. It analyzes the role of women in the nation-building process and considers outcomes that might occur if current practices were modified. Recommendations are made for improving data collection in conflict zones and for enhancing the outcomes of nation-building programs.
6.
Recent Trends in Veteran Unemployment
This technical report explores recent trends in the unemployment of recent veterans as estimated in the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Community Survey (ACS). While CPS data indicates that veteran youth unemployment increased relative to nonveteran youth unemployment between 2003 and 2005, the changes in unemployment for the same groups over the same period in the ACS data are not statistically significant.
7.
Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy, Strengthening Ourselves
The author presents a clear-sighted and sobering analysis of where we are today in the struggle against terrorism. Jenkins, an internationally renowned authority on terrorism, distills the jihadists' operational code and outlines a pragmatic but principled approach to defeating the terrorist enterprise. We need to build upon our traditions of determination and self-reliance, he argues, and above all, preserve our commitment to American values.
8.
Learning Large Lessons: The Evolving Roles of Ground Power and Air Power in the Post-Cold War Era
The relative roles of U.S. ground and air power in major operations and campaigns have shifted since the end of the Cold War. To assess this shift (i.e., between the Army and Air Force, respectively), the author of this report analyzed post-Cold War conflicts in Iraq (1991), Bosnia (1995), Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and Iraq (2003). This revised edition includes updates and an index.
9.
Securing Health: Lessons from Nation-Building Missions
RAND researchers analyzed the health components of seven post-World War II nation-building efforts conducted after major conflicts-Germany, Japan, Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq-and found that two factors are correlated with successful health outcomes: planning and coordination, and infrastructure and resources.
10.
Top