The Antagonists; A Comparative Combat Assessment of the Soviet and American Soldier

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. First Printing. Hardcover. very good/good. 24 cm, 208 pages. Bookplate and name in ink inside front board. "Richard A. Gabriel ... brings a fresh perspective to [the analysis of the relative merits of the US and Soviet Armed forces]. In his new book, The Antagonists, he focuses upon small-group cohesion as the primary determinant of combat performance. Contrasting recent statistical surveys of the US Army with attitudinal polls of former soldiers among Soviet emigres, Gabriel assesses each army's ability to sustain combat. Coincidentally, he also launches a critique of the managerial philosophy now followed by the US Army officer corps. ... The Antagonists takes a significant step forward in the comparison of US and Soviet armed forces. By extending the analysis of small-group cohesion to the Soviets, Gabriel brings us closer to a real world assessment of their capabilities."-Military Review Richard A. Gabriel is a published historian and author. He is a professor in the Department of History and War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada and in the Department of Defence Studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. He was a professor of history and politics at the U.S. Army War College and held the Visiting Chair in Military Ethics at the Marine Corps University. As a popularizer of history, he is the author of more than 40 books including The Antagonists, Scipio Africanus: Rome's Greatest General, Hannibal: The Military Biography of Rome's Greatest Enemy, The Great Armies of Antiquity, Man and Wound in the Ancient World and Military Incompetence.