Introduction: American ways of war, old and new -- 1 No substitute for victory: the separation of politics and strategy in the American military tradition -- 2 The science of strategy: war as a political instrument in the nuclear age -- 3 Overwhelming force: the American military and the memory of Vietnam -- 4 Immaculate Destruction: the impact of 9/11 on American military culture -- 5 The new American way of war: vision and reality in Afghanistan and Iraq -- Conclusion: the rise and fall of the new American way of war