The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001 Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. 2001. Hardcover. First Printing by Line Number. Inscribed on the title page by the author. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Near Fine; section of five folded tips at page 198. DJ: Near Fine; light bumping to tail; light rubbing to panels. Blood red cloth boards and spine with bright black lettering on the spine. 234 pp 8vo. The ideas of US Air Force Colonel John Boyd have transformed American military policy and practice. A first-rate fighter pilot and a self-taught scholar, he wrote the first manual on jet aerial combat; spearheaded the design of both of the Air Force's premier fighters, the F-15 and the F-16; and shaped the tactics that saved lives during the Vietnam War and the strategies that won the Gulf War. Many of America's best-known military and political leaders consulted Boyd on matters of technology, strategy, and theory. In this book, the author offers the first complete portrait of John Boyd, his groundbreaking ideas, and his enduring legacy. Based on extensive interviews with Boyd and those who knew him as well as on a close analysis of Boyd's briefings, this intellectual biography brings the work of an extraordinary thinker to a broader public. A clean very presentable copy rare with the author signature.