Waging a Good War

by Thomas E. Ricks

#1 New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks offers a new take on the Civil Rights Movement, stressing its unexpected use of military strategy and its lessons for nonviolent resistance around the world.

“Ricks does a tremendous job of putting the reader inside the hearts and souls of the young men and women who risked so much to change America . . . Riveting.” ―Charles Kaiser, The Guardian

In Waging a Good War , the bestselling author Thomas E. Ricks offers a fresh perspective on America’s greatest moral revolution―the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s―and its legacy today. While the Movement has become synonymous with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ethos of nonviolence, Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize–winning war reporter, draws on his deep knowledge of tactics and strategy to advance a surprising but revelatory the greatest victories for Black Americans of the past century were won not by idealism alone, but by paying attention to recruiting, training, discipline, and organization―the hallmarks of any successful military campaign.

An engaging storyteller, Ricks deftly narrates the Movement’s triumphs and defeats. He follows King and other key figures from Montgomery to Memphis, demonstrating that Gandhian nonviolence was a philosophy of active, not passive, resistance. While bringing legends such as Fannie Lou Hamer and John Lewis into new focus, Ricks also highlights lesser-known figures―the activists James Lawson, James Bevel, Diane Nash, and Septima Clark foremost among them. Rich with fresh interpretations of familiar events and overlooked aspects of America’s civil rights struggle, Waging a Good War is an indispensable addition to the literature of racial justice and social change.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Race, American History, Military Fiction, Military History

464 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2022

About the author

Thomas Edwin "Tom" Ricks (born September 25, 1955) is an American journalist who writes on defense topics. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. He writes a blog at ForeignPolicy.com and is a member of the Center for a New American Security, a defense policy think tank.

He lectures widely to the military and is a member of Harvard University's Senior Advisory Council on the Project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations. He has reported on military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Ricks is author of five books: the bestselling Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq (2006), its follow-up The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 (2009), The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today (2012), the novel A Soldier's Duty (2001), and Making the Corps (1997) (from wikipedia)

Reviews

[Darya Silman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Publication date: October 4, 2022.

Informative and helpful guide into nonviolence, a Gandhian tactic more aggressive in achieving its goals than open hostilities.

Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 describes the mechanics of nonviolence that led to the actual desegregation of the South.

Thomas E. Ricks, a war reporter and military history specialist, provides a new glance into the movement of the 1950s-1960s in America that gave rise to such figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Diane Nash, James Lawson, and James Bevel, among the countless others. From the Montgomery bus boycott to the King's assassination, the book guides the readers through the essential battles, focusing on the appliance of Gandhian philosophy to American reality. To achieve their goals, leaders spent months in preparation, much longer than the actual event itself. The thorough research of the surroundings, recruiting and training of volunteers, unexpected twists in tactics if the old one wasn't working, and the little victories instead of unrealistic global changes resembled how an army operates before and in battle. Whenever these essentials were missing (like in Chicago), the movement achieved little in the best case; in the worst, it complicated the situation on the ground.

Distilling the tremendous amount of information to serve one purpose - to show the principles of nonviolence - the author managed to illuminate well-known facts in a new light. When starting the book, I considered recommending it only to people with no previous knowledge of the subject. After all, everybody at least heard, if not researched, about Martin Luther King Jr. However, as the author dived deeper into the philosophical aspects of Gandhian teaching, without employing an academic style, I found myself anticipating the next page and the next, and the next. For people who need practical lessons in nonviolence, the book can be a step-by-step guide as well as a source of further reading.

Violence produces more violence. Why not learn from history how effective nonviolence can be?

I obtained the advance review copy through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me begin by talking about one of the issues that might put you off about this book. It certainly put me off as a impassioned anti-military activist. The author likes to equate the work and operation and success of the movement to a military machine or operation. This issue is noted significantly even in the New York Times review of this book. The author makes comparisons frequently to military experiences. I was prepared to see this as a major defect in the book but now that I have listened to the entire book, while following along with the e-book, I have to say that I was not as put off as I expected to be. The fact that people in the movement and the experiences that are described in the 1960s and 1970s Were extremely stressful and dangerous is obvious, and the fact that people who went through this experience did not infrequently suffer from PTSD after the fact. Sometimes the comparisons to military experiences and war and battles seemed a little overdone, but I never found it so offputting that I stopped reading.

I was a high school student and a college student in the 1960s and I remember experiencing many of the described events in the south via the news, media and television. To have the look behind-the-scenes that this book presents was interesting and evidently well researched. There are no great revelations here of new information. It was interesting to see that the author used FBI wiretaps as one source of confirming events with private conversations that were happening in the midst of public activities.

The coverage of freedom, Summer in 1964 when Northern college students, mostly White went to Mississippi to work on voter registration issues was fascinating. The decision to use young black students in the Birmingham protests that led to the massive publicity about fire hoses and dogs was reminiscent from the past, but also instructive. The MO of the movement through that period of time is discussed in some detail and repeatedly. As a community organizer myself that was, of course fascinating.

The book was well written, and well organized, going in a linear fashion through the years and the events. The comparison of some events to certain battles and past military tactics sometimes seemed overdone. I think the fact that people were involved in a sometimes brutal struggle was convincing that they could have suffered from some of the same outcomes as military soldiers.

One of the things that was new information to me to my recollection was the statement that during the period of time when they were searching for the three missing freedom, summer activist were killed, they uncovered what is claimed to be many black bodies that had been killed previously . The fact that the killing of a couple of white northern activist got much more media attention than the frequent killing of native blacks in Mississippi routinely.

[Alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. Ricks, a military historian, breaks down the "fronts" of the Civil Rights Movement under the lens of organizers acting as skilled battle leaders (who were prone to PTSD just like those serving in Vietnam at the same time). The timing of this release could be fortuitous, just ahead of midterm elections - Ricks gives readers a lot of insight into how to successfully plan and execute similar acts inspiring social change, which I hope to see in coming months and years.

[Alma Angotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t often give books 5 stars but this was well researched, well written and an incredibly interesting and different perspective on the success of the civil rights movement.

[Porter Broyles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a decent overview of the history of the Civil Rights. It tried to overlay a militaristic approach/basis for how civil rights movements acted and behaved,

While this was interesting, there were times that I felt he was stretching to get the events to conform to the hypothesis.

Still a solid overview of the period.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Militant Nonviolence is not an Oxymoron

“The arc of the moral universe is long,” Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, “but it bends toward justice.” True enough, I suppose, but here’s the deal. It doesn’t just happen. As Thomas Ricks demonstrates in his new book Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954 – 1968, the arc of the moral universe only bends toward justice when people of goodwill and courage fully commit to bending it.

At first, I was confused by the framing of the book as a military history. Ricks characterizes the Civil Rights Movement as “intensely American, strongly nonviolent, and rooted in Christian faith, especially a vigorous belief in love and forgiveness.” Hmm. A military history struck me as ironic. After all, nonviolence is neither a philosophy nor an approach one typically associates with the military.  Now, having read the book, I can tell you Ricks’ framing is brilliant -- for at least three important reasons.

First, King and the Movement leaders, and their legions of participants were engaged in what Ricks describes as “a small-scale, regional civil war.”  

Second, the Movement operated like a military unit in terms of how it formulated and deployed direct action campaigns against an entrenched opposition. It successfully leveraged an integrated set of traditional military disciplines including:

• Establishing clarity on the strategic objectives to be achieved,
• Planning to identify and to select opportunities for action with the greatest potential to achieve its objectives,
• Training to educate participants on the broader goals and what was being asked of them individually,
• Maintaining organizational discipline to ensure coordinated, consistent, and sustained action,
• Proactively establishing support structures (communications, transportation and logistics, food, legal assistance, etc.), and
• Reconciling with the opposition post engagement to transform, not to destroy them. This last step is often overlooked in discussions of nonviolent action.

In other words, the actions of the Movement were rigorously formulated, focused, and deliberate. They did not emerge organically or “on the fly” although they did adapt as needed.  The lessons from the Movement are instructive as a broader example of what is required and how, specifically, social change can be achieved.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, Ricks clarifies the concept of nonviolence. He begins by addressing what nonviolence is not. It is not merely “passive resistance” or a “willingness to take a beating.” Rather, nonviolence is the use of peaceful means to attain peaceful ends. In this context, nonviolence can be thought of both as a militant action and as an offensive weapon. Deployed effectively, nonviolence is a catalyst to highlight structural injustices (e.g., racial, social, economic) to galvanize change. It is not a coincidence that the biggest triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement paralleled the emergence of the national television networks. Ultimately, the aim of nonviolence is to transform, not to abolish the system. That’s why the reconciliation of opposing forces in the final step is critically important.

The Movement may not have achieved all its objectives, but its successes are impressive and include:

• Eliminating Jim Crow discrimination in public accommodations and transportation,
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Finally, it must be emphasized, Ricks’ use of military language should not be construed as mere metaphor. As in a military campaign, the Movement suffered casualties. Beyond the assassination of King, many on the front lines experienced devastating trauma to body, mind, and spirit. When Ricks describes the casualties, he is reminding us of the high price many Americans paid by demanding the full rights of citizenship. He is also reminding us, both individually and as a society, of our obligation to protect those freedoms secured at such a high cost. It is an especially timely and important message in today’s political climate, where voting security sometimes is used as a cover for voter suppression.

Highly recommended.

[Sandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this very readable, thoroughly researched, and revealing book, Ricks, a noted military historian, examines America's Civil Rights Movement as if it were a military operation . Ricks clearly admires The Movement and the courageous men and women who changed America, some of whom died in the line of duty and others whom Ricks believes suffered the same PTSD as combat veterans. Part of me looks at his use of war in connection with what was a shining hour of nonviolent resistance with distaste and skepticism, but the Movement's history remains riveting and compelling. Ricks allows the reader to experience the terror, pride, and sense of loss experienced by ordinary Black Americans and civil rights workers. But he misses the mark when his narrative reaches Nashville in 1968, which ended in Dr. King's assassination. Because he sees it as a failure in military terms, he does not fully understand the meaning of Nashville, including the heartbreaking circumstances that brought Dr. King there. He omits the reason that called Dr. King to Tennessee. It was the death of two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, crushed to death in their garbage truck because they were not allowed the same worker protections as white sanitation workers. Ricks takes advantage of historical revisions and his own numerous interviews with survivors to give us a fuller picture. He rightfully gives women like Diane Nash, Fannie Lou Hamer, and others long overdue recognition. (I was disappointed to learn that the honored leader Bayard Rustin refused to give the women any place on the podium at the storied March on Washington.) For me, a meaningful part of the book was the strength and beauty of the demand by Lawson, Nash, and others that their adversaries in this good war (adversaries who would happy see them brutalized and dead) be shown humanity.

Ricks' final analysis is both hard and hopeful. Like Ricks, I hope that America will live up to the work and sacrifice of The Movement and the promise of Black Lives Matter. I found Waging a Good War a valuable read even if I could not fully buy Ricks' premise.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968, by Thomas E Ricks, is an excellent history of the movement that concentrates on strategy, planning, and executing the plan.

I was surprised to read that there weren't more books or research papers using the military perspective since it so clearly parallels military thought. Ricks does a great job of bringing the analogy to fruition without resorting to making it sound like a cliche. One of the strengths of the book is the highlighting of lesser known yet vital people involved in coordinating and planning so many diverse actions.

The other major takeaway from the book is one Ricks states clearly, we need to both remember the movement and learn the organizing principles so that we may use them to re-fight the same battles against those who would restrict voting rights as well as reinstitute other oppressive policies.

Highly recommended for everyone from the historian to the activist. We must learn from the past so that we may use those lessons in the present to make a better future. For all!!

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am loath to read stuff that has military doctrine overlaid on it like management, leadership, and nonmilitary history books, but somehow it works for Thomas E. Ricks. This book looks at the civil rights movement as a military operation and will keep your attention. Very interesting.

[Elizabeth Sulzby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, by Thomas E. Ricks is a detailed history that outlines how Martin Luther King, Jr. studied Gandhi's methods which used long term planning, detailed organization all the way to when an objection was gained and AFTERWARDS. I am so glad I remembered this book by a journalist who writes on the military. Thus he picked up on the strands of military type organization and methods in the Civil Rights Movement.

I went back to this book after listening to Prince Harry read his book, Spare, and reading about his PTSD after his various military services. And learning about all the efforts Harry and Meghan have sstarted and/or supported for mental health, and especially for military service members.

Ricks has a section on the many Civil Rights movement leaders died young and compares it with the number of military service members who also died young. He also includes in that list James Bevil who suffered from mental illness and became non productive to the Movement.

I was a "Navy wife" to a man who went to Naval War College in Newport, RI. My husband would share his books and make comments about his classes so I have a good bit of information about military organizations and planning. Also, one of his former Captains (USS Suribachi( worked on the Law of the Sea (which, ironically, the USA did not adopt). We visited him at the U.S. Naval Academy where he was Commandant of Midshipsmen after he became a Rear Admiral. Anyway, these experiences and many more both in Civil Rights and as a "Navy wife" led me to admire Ricks' book greatly.

I plan to reread this book now that I have written about it. I am writing this on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2023.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get asked frequently about history books I would recommend. Usually I don’t do blanket posts for a book, but try to cater it more to the person’s personal interests. That being said, I recommend “Waging A Good War” by Thomas E Ricks for anyone.

This purpose of this book is to use a military historical approach to evaluate the nonviolent aspects of the Modern Civil Rights Movement through 1970. It focuses not only on the “great man” version of history, but really lays out the strengths of the supporting leadership and individuals to evaluate the successes of each “campaign” in regards to the overall nonviolent strategy with an emphasis on the SCLC,CORE, and SNCC.

At a time when contributions of the African American community are literally being erased from government websites, I can’t think of a better time to read a book about the impact of this movement. The book is alternately inspiring and heartbreaking, and a great overview of key aspects of the movement for those of you that need, or want, a refresher on the subject. The epilogue is especially relevant in talking about how modern advocates for equality can adapt the successful strategies for our modern political environment.

[Jarrett Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I came into this book a bit skeptical of Ricks’ military history lens on the civil rights movement, by the end I found it quite compelling. Through chapters on a series of distinct campaigns and moments in the civil rights movement (e.g., the Freedom Rides, integrating Ole Miss, the March on Washington), Ricks, a seasoned military historian, shows how military history can help us better understand why the civil rights movement succeeded. Through James Lawson’s sit-in trainings in Memphis, Ricks demonstrates the importance of training in preparing white and Black protestors to withstand verbal and physical violence without responding in kind. Through the movement’s meticulous planning and strategizing ahead of its campaign in Birmingham to desegregate public transit, Ricks shows how King and Bevel identified their targets (usually places with violent sheriffs who were likely to make a mistake), collectively established campaign goals early on and communicating them to their opponents from the outset, strategized about what actions were required to succeed (e.g., nonviolent marches, boycotts), stayed one step ahead of their opponents (e.g., inviting children to march and have hoses turned on them in front of national TV to regain the initiative), enforced discipline among activists (e.g., monitored marches for violence), and created a path for reconciliation at the end of the campaigns so that progress would stick and white opponents could back down without being humiliated. In other examples (e.g., Albany, desegregating Ole Miss), Ricks makes clear what happens when the movement faced cunning opponents who failed to make mistakes like hosing children on TV or punching a protestor in the face or who did not have a plan entering the confrontation and instead acted entirely reactively (e.g., sending troops into Ole Miss but without riot gear). And like wars, many of those involved died fighting or suffered from PTSD after. In Waging a Good War, Ricks pens an illuminating history and certainly added to my understanding of the civil rights movement, especially the role of training, discipline, and strategy in its success.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really moving and inspiring, though it has some drawbacks.
Ricks, a military journalist, decided to write this with a military framing that adds little, and feels unnecessary. The history is also streamlined to a simplified and fairly linear narrative. The result is well-paced and quite readable, though there are undoubtedly deeper and more nuanced histories of the topic.

[Thomas Ray]

Dewey 323.1196073
2022

[Rona · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I thought the author was trying too hard to frame the civil rights actions of the 50s and 60s in terms of military planning and discipline. I got it about halfway through.
There was a lot I didn’t know.
There’s so much more to this than the typical big ideas and great man history that I was taught in school.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the subtitle says, this is a look at (a fragment of) the Civil Rights Movement with particular attention to its similarities to a protracted military campaign. The author makes a good case for his view; however, I think he belabors his point excessively at times. I think I would have preferred just a straight up history. (But then, I have no fondness for military history.)

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book is a bit confusing, but the Pulitzer prize winning author and military historian examines not the military during the Civil Rights movement, but rather how the Civil Rights movement molded itself in a military fashion (many of the early leaders were WWII vets) who utilized the same precepts: rigorous training, planning, discipline, reconnaissance, strategy vs. tactics, chain of command, etc.

Easy to read and packed full of information, I learned so much about the movement .... and if I may raise a personal, unrelated gripe. One of the main people featured in the book is Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth -- who actually spoke at my university before he passed and I was lucky enough to hear -- but shamefully I never learned about his contributions to Civil Rights in high school or even college. It would be like meeting Ronald Regan in the 90s and only having learned he was some former Hollywood actor.

Highly recommend!!!

[Bookreporter.com Biography & Memoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

In WAGING A GOOD WAR, Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks offers a fascinating look at the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s. With a particular focus on the nonviolent efforts of this era, he has crafted a concise history of how the Movement’s leaders and volunteers operated like generals and soldiers in war.

On December 5, 1955, after a whole day of Black citizens boycotting the segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech subtly indicated the boycott’s strategy and tactics. Strategy, as Ricks defines it, is what your goals are, while tactics are the “how” that will accomplish the goals. King’s strategy and tactics were simple --- Black Americans deserved to be treated as equal members of society. Christian ideals like love and forgiveness “provid[ed] the spirit” and strategy, while inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi “furnish[ed] the method,” the tactic of active nonviolence.

To sustain the 381-day boycott among as many Black Montgomerians as possible, communication was crucial. Black churches were like “command posts…secure locations where plans could be made, training sessions held, and orders issued.” Logistics, like in war, were just as important. How would people get to their jobs and appointments without buses? Car pools and a transportation committee stepped in.

The boycott even had its reconciliation phase planned, or, as the US military would call it, “Phase IV Post-Conflict Operations.” The goal was to “find a way to live together down the road.” When Montgomery buses dropped their racist regulations, former boycotters were to be respectful and dignified, refraining from just bitterness. Some Black ministers rode buses just to supervise others.

Segregationists responded to Montgomery by counter-attacking the wrong enemy --- the NAACP. Viewing the courts and legal systems as the best vessel for civil rights, the NAACP denounced active resistance like the boycott. Ricks draws an interesting comparison. When the French government captured rebel Algerian leadership and opened the door for more radical leaders, more active roots for civil rights became the only option once the NAACP’s hands were tied in courts.

Enter the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins. James Lawson, knowing they could not be successful everywhere, followed the “concentration of force” military ideal and dispatched reinforcements to replace arrested protestors. Outside the restaurants, white allies would call the police if violence erupted and fare better as witnesses in prejudiced courts. Diane Nash, a key Movement figure, was struck by the symbiotic love that she and her fellow protestors had for each other, trained to shield one another from beatings. In combat, a deep trust between soldiers, or “unit cohesion,” increases more effective decision-making and communication.

The Freedom Rides sought to stake equality’s flag deep in enemy territory. A federal ruling protecting interstate travelers from state segregation laws was almost never enforced, which the Movement took as a challenge. Segregationists responded with violence; Ricks dubs attempted arson assassinations, and the appalled reactions from the media, “victories.” He compares the attacks to combat casualties, which are “always regrettable, but sometimes necessary in order to fulfill the mission.” This would have been an appropriate time for Ricks to discuss Black figures who did not agree with everything in the nonviolence playbook. Many, like Malcolm X, did not believe that accepting casualties or enduring gang attacks were righteous prices to pay.

The Birmingham campaign targeted segregated voting rights. Once marches and arrests exhausted their reinforcements, James Bevel, Diane Nash’s husband, enlisted children, hoping the police would violently suppress them and be seen on national television. The move worked. White businesspeople in the area saw their ventures dwindle and cried for change, to the chagrin of Birmingham police and politicians.

The fight for equal voting rights continued in Selma, Alabama. About 600 protestors marched toward Montgomery, arranged in military-esque companies and smaller squads. Unit cohesion thrived since the squadrons already knew and trusted each other. Throughout the Deep South campaigns, Ricks contextualizes the region’s Confederate history. Just before the march reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, he reminds readers that Pettus was a Confederate officer and Klansman. Police brutally attacked the marchers on that bridge; 140 were injured, half of whom required hospitalization. The horror was broadcast live on television, which led to President Lyndon Johnson voicing support for what would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

After Selma, WAGING A GOOD WAR reads like falling action. Ricks discusses Stokely Carmichael and the emerging “Black Power” movement, the Black Panthers and, more recently, Black Lives Matter. With his narrow focus on nonviolence, he has produced a detailed, gripping and easy-to-grasp account of the Civil Rights Movement. His military analogies are potent, helping to unwind the Movement from color blindness and the “gauzy sentimentality” with which many Americans often romanticize it. The people and protests are depicted as complex pieces in a struggle for equality, regardless of how one feels about the ideals and tactics of nonviolence.

Reviewed by Sam Johnson

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel perspective on the Movement. Ricks shows the successes (and failures) of the Movement are in part because of the best practices of waging war. However, what is unclear is whether the leaders themselves were aware of this. Though maybe that's irrelevant in the long run.

[Andrew Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic disciplines are often assumed to be about content (Biology studies living things, political science studies politics etc), but they're just as much collections of specific ways of looking at the world. Military history today is concerned with how organisations achieve their goals, through adaptation, training, strategy, and communication. As such, this discipline provides a compelling, revealing lens for Thomas Ricks to examine a critical question: why did the US Civil Rights Movement succeed?

At its core, Ricks argues the Movement had a good sense of strategy: how did each action help achieve the communication and political impact sought. The role of nonviolence was central to this, shifting the nature of the struggle away from one which the authorities understood and could master (violence) and towards a form which deftly engaged the audience (the civic and business leaders, along with national power sources who could force segregationists to change). Just as importantly, their more successful campaigns - and some were failures - reflected significant prior training, logistics, discipline and analysis. And they had viable leaders, both as masterminds (Lawson, Nash, Lewis, Bevel) and as public figures (foremost among them MLK).

Ricks is a seasoned historian, and shows a deft hand managing the vast material. Throughout the book there is always a sense of an author sorting themes and events, relating them to examples across world history, while staying authentic to the material. Ricks uses military history to show what the movement did, what those within it experienced and help explain why it worked, while still telling a gripping, moving narrative. For those like myself with only a modest knowledge of the period, this sense of organisation provides an excellent way to learn the history.

Along with helping shape the material, the connection with military campaigns is revealing of the challenges faced by those within the Movement. While others have shown this in brilliant psychological profiles (such as Taylor Branch's magisterial histories), Ricks shows a broad sweep of figures who though part of a 'civil' campaign, felt stresses akin to combat at the time, and in the years after showed signs of PTSD and the harm of war. This is a hard book at times to read, with the violence and tension brought to light, and a varied (and hence compelling) tempo across the book.

I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone involved in current day politics and action groups. Again and again we see that mere good will, mere moral rightness was not, and could never be enough to achieve change. It is the easiest task in the world - and often great fun- to think up tactics (what will drive eyeballs or make your adversary mad). But what defines movements that genuinely change their environment is strategy - what intentions are sought and which actions may then help us meaningfully step towards those goals? Encouragingly, Ricks argues there are signs the BLM movement in the US has learnt many of the same lessons, seeking to build in and through communities, and valuing organisation and logistics as much as likes and retweets.

Recommended.

[Thomas George Phillips · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Ricks did not offer much in the way of new information. I was aware of much already from reading previous historical books on Civil Rights struggles in the 1960's. But what I took issue with Mr. Rick's account is his absence of placing the blame on the Party of Jefferson as opposed to the Party of Lincoln. Mr. Ricks frequently uses the word "politicians" in referring to those who adamantly opposed any progress towards Blacks and their rights in the South. For instance, Mr. Ricks blames Nashville Mayor Roy Harris, who in 1960, denounced the protestors in his city as being equal to criminals. According to Mr. Ricks the Mayor agreed to a meeting with the students at Vanderbilt to discuss their allegations; and the Mayor, according to Mr. Rick's account, was totally condescending. As it happens the mayor was a Democrat.

In 1956 a Democrat Judge banned the NAACP in Alabama. However, Mr. Ricks does not identify said Judge's party affiliation. I took it upon myself to research the Judge's Decision.

Also of note is the notorious segregationist Mississippi James Eastland, a Democrat, who looked upon the NAACP and the Civil Rights Leaders as Communists.

Nor does Mr. Ricks mention that the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was successfully passed by 98 percent of Republican Senators. Every Southern Democrat Senator voted against said Bill; including Richard Russell of Georgia, LBJ's mentor; Richard Byrd of West Virginia, Hillary Clinton's mentor; and J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Bill Clinton's mentor. Furthermore, when President Johnson was signing said Bill into law at the White House, in back of him, among others, were Dr. Martin Luther King, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois. President Johnson hands the first pen to Senator Dirksen. For without him and the Senate Republicans the Southern Senate Democrats would have been successful in filibustering the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. All of this was noticeably left out of "Waging a Good War".

Also of note is Governor George Wallace's inflammatory comments at his 1963 Inaugural Address: "Segregation now, segregation forever." Mr. Ricks leaves out that Wallace was a Democrat.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a Tom Ricks fan -- I very much enjoyed Making the Corps, The Generals and First Principles. He's said on Twitter that he considers this book, Waging a Good War, to be his best. I'm not sure -- I loved Making the Corps -- but Waging a Good War is excellent.

It's an excellent history of a decade and a half of the Civil Rights Movement, but from a fresh and compelling perspective. Ricks is a military correspondent, and he examines the Movement in the light of a series of military-style campaigns. He argues that Movement leadership used a variety of tried and tested techniques also used by militaries preparing campaigns: rigorous training, careful strategic planning, assigning tactical initiative to leaders in the field and on the ground, post-conflict reconciliation and more.

It's a persuasive presentation. It's certainly helped me to understand the Movement in a new way.

He covers desegregation and voting rights campaigns across the South. Rosa Parks, the bus boycotts, the Freedom Rides and Freedom Summer and much more are all here. He writes about Selma and the march across the Edmund Pettis bridge. Montgomery, Nashville, Oxford, and Memphis, including Martin Luther King's assassination, all get the attention they deserve.

He writes about other leaders of the SNCC, SCLC, NAACP, CORE and the Black Panther Party as well. The interplay and interactions of those leaders when their organizations collaborated and competed are interesting.

This would have been a first-rate history of the Movement, just on the detail with which Ricks reports the facts. His analysis of the Movement in terms of military discipline is, as far as I know, brand new. This is a piece of scholarship that advances our understanding of that time, and that effort -- still ongoing!

I loved it.

[Charles Collyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a valuable addition to the public literature on the Civil Rights Movement. Its aim is to show how similar in its planning and logistical preparation for actions the CRM was to intelligently waged military actions. The book is very successful in this regard.

The book also suggests, with less direct arguments, that the best of military thinking can be applied to nonviolent as well as violent conflict. This idea challenges widely held assumptions about both nonviolence and the military.

The book also implies that the tactics of nonviolence can achieve major victories for social justice. This understanding of nonviolence is not widely held, but tends to be recognized when the origins of such things as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act are explained. Ricks hints at but does not fully develop the ideas that nonviolence wins public support by maintaining a moral high road, exposes injustice by leveraging the contrast between itself and the methods of oppression, and holds out to politicians and power-brokers a palatable way to undertake change.

The nation's need for nonviolence education is perhaps beyond the scope of this book, but could be the focus of another. Nonviolent approaches to everyday problem-solving represent a missing subject in the school curriculum.

I'm very pleased that Waging a Good War is now available, and grateful to Thomas Ricks for writing it. It is a great read, long overdue.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a man in my early seventies I remember seeing the television accounts of the marches on Selma, Birmingham and Washington DC. I remember, as a white child, how courageous the Black marchers were in the face of white police brutality. These were people to be admired and emulated.
Then it went off the rails.

Thomas Ricks writes of the civil rights movement in 1950's and early 1960's South as a military campaign. And, as he discloses, from the amount of planning, logistics, tactics and, above all, discipline, it was.

More than Black Americans, white Americans, especially those young, suburban pukes born after 1990 who are nostalgic for the 1950's, should read this book. This is what critical race theory is about. It is interesting to note that too many of my fellow whites, who want to gloss over the warts-and-all truth of US history in a patina of flags, are themselves the second- or third-generation descendants of immigrants, some of which suffered discrimination at the hands of the old line white establishment.

Ricks ends that book with a favorable appraisal of the Black Lives Matter movement. As much as I admire and support their goals the phrase "defund the police" was a tactical, if not strategic, mistake. And other thing I feel that hampers police reform in the US is, white people just do not care if a white cop shoots and kills an unarmed white kid. That's an observable fact.

[Scott Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Audiobook) Sometimes a perspective on an event is determined by who is doing the writing. If you get a career military history writer to look at a historical event, well, the writing will take on that flavor. So it is with Ricks and his take on the Civil Rights Movement. Most of the history he relays about the work is fairly well known for those who've followed the history and events of that timeframe. The hook for this work is that Ricks views this in the prism of a military scenario, from the role of counterinsurgency to the stressors of those on the front lines of the movement. Using that military mindset, it offers an engaging account of that timeframe, noting studies and inputs from a military perspective that offer significant insights into the time and events.

Perhaps this will not be everyone's cup of tea, and perhaps there are those who would not exactly compare the Civil Rights Movement to war, but it was a form of resistance, and with America's far more recent experience with 20 years of counterinsurgency, the mindset should not really be so alien to American readers. Ricks notes that there isn't a lot of literature on the subject comparing the Civil Rights movement to an insurgency, but there were articles over 10 years ago comparing the actions in Albany, GA to a successful counterinsurgency operation. Minor quibble for a strong work. The rating would be the same regardless of format.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, providing a detailed history of the civil rights movement through the lens of a military historian. The author, noted defense journalist Thomas E. Ricks, brings his knowledge and experience of global conflicts to better understand the success of the key figures in the movement. Ricks does a good job explaining the dynamics of non-violent resistance, explaining how it required aggressiveness and courage for its success. But the book goes deeper, demonstrating the intricate strategy, logistics, training, and recruitment that were foundational to the movement’s victories. Many of the key figures of the movement are introduced in this wide ranging narrative. Ricks follows several campaigns closely, successes such as Selma and Montgomery as well as failures such as in Albany, Georgia. But he also analyzes the broader scope of the movement, describing how training, communications, and logistics made possible a wider swathe of actions than is normally appreciated. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to better appreciate the strategy and organization carried out by the nonviolent activists of the civil rights movement.

[HP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A competent work of history with a compelling thesis, Ricks' analysis of the Civil Rights movement and the towering American heroes who led it forces us to view the Black American struggle from a new perspective.

As all great works of the fight against white supremacy do, Waging a Good War reveals the oft untold violence of the white American power structure. But more importantly, it demonstrates the militant commitments to strategy and tactics that Civil Rights organizations had to make in order to be successful. This blood-soaked exploration of the parallels between the CRM and more "traditional" wars was insightful and emotionally stirring: seeing people put their literal lives on the line for a purpose beyond themselves lends a greater perspective to the parts of our society today we take for granted. Perhaps even, to the modern day threats to American democracy that we do not fully understand and appreciate.

Waging a Good War lended much clarity to the successes and trials of the Civil Rights Movement while humanizing the incredible participants and immersing you in their struggle. Not something I'll soon forget.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the movie, Selma, I thought this is really a war movie. Mr. Ricks took that thought and applied it to the entire history of the civil rights movement. In doing so, he writes a magnificent telling of its history. In lay terms, he explains how the strategy - knowing who you are and what are your goals, led to recruiting, training, and discipline of the cadre. The use of nonviolence became the means of action, and adept planning and logistics pulled off successful campaigns.

If Marin Luther King Jr. was the field marshal, Diana Nash, James Bevel, Robert Moses, John Lewis, James Lawson, Fannie Lou Hamer were his generals. Mr. Ricks illustrates how well they took to the field and outwitted external and internal opponents.

My only criticism of the book is the military lens becomes cloudy in the book's later chapters. Although, this does not take away from the author's telling the history. I hope other writers and scholars will pick up on Mr. Ricks examination of the civil rights movement as a military history and dive deeper into the subject using the works of other military philosophies.

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 4 out of 5]

The point of view is quite peculiar: telling the story of the Civil Rights Movement as if it had been a military campaign, and I must say the author delivers. He makes a compelling case, using major battles from the US Civil War or World Wars as examples, "translating" Civil Rights Movement action into military categories and, in general, presenting those 14 years of continuous struggle against segregation and racism as an ongoing war. I was surprised by the level of planning and training involved in all the major Civil Rights actions; almost nothing was left to chance.
However, reading the book from Europe, I have missed information which is not provided. Everyone is familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks, but there were plenty of major figures who played fundamental roles in the struggle who are introduced matter-of-factly all over the book without any explanation. Maybe American readers do not need further explanations (something which I sincerely doubt), but readers outside the US definitely do. Apart from that, I would have been interesting to get to see the faces of the people involved; a photograph appendix would have been really appreciated.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book. The central metaphor is that the Civil Rights movement ought to be considered as a successful insurgent movement waging a civil war with a military degree of strategy, planning, and logistics, and that their tactics were nonviolent does not limit the applicability of military frame of analysis.

The fact is, while it's clear the author anticipates a lot of pushback to his central metaphor, and over-eggs the pudding - nearly every subsection has a kicker quoting someone in the movement comparing their campaign to a war - his case is so compelling that he didn't need to repeat his thesis quite so much. For that reason, I'd give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

This book is important, though, and arguably more so now even than when it was published in 2022. It is a history of a movement that successfully fought and won a battle for civil rights and voting rights against an implacably hostile and vastly more powerful adversary. As many of the issues they fought for are again contested, Ricks's analysis of what it takes to win a nonviolent victory is crucial.