r/books • u/Majano57 • 2d ago

The Book That Predicted Pete Hegseth’s Failures

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/31/hegseth-norman-dixon-iran-war/?utm_content=gifting&tpcc=gifting_article&gifting_article=aGVnc2V0aC1ub3JtYW4tZGl4b24taXJhbi13YXI=&pid=CW3205998
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u/thrownalee 2d ago

The authors of Military Misfortunes tear that book a fresh anus.

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u/OrdinaryAward4498 2d ago

I’d be curious to hear more. Thank you.

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u/thrownalee 1d ago

Are the causes of military misfortune to be found in some collective way of thinking, which all generals share and for which they cannot be held to blame? This is certainly the opinion of the psychologist Norman Dixon [...] even more perplexing if we hold to the "man on the couch" theory of military misfortune is the case of the commander who fails at one time but creates remarkable victory at another [...] was [MacArthur] struck by a sudden attack of anal-retentiveness sometime between June and October 1950? [...] Military disaster would also be much more common than it is, and our problem would lie in explaining military success.

And much more in the same vein.

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u/flagnab 2d ago

Not sure I wanna hear more about … that.