Illuminating and richly detailed ... The book loses its swagger as it moves closer to the present, reading less like an action-packed memoir and more like an official history ... winning meant above all prevailing in Afghanistan, the site of his great victory in the 1980s. Vickers labors mightily to demonstrate that his strategy there, centered on President Obama’s 30,000 troop 'surge,' was a viable one. Few readers will find the argument convincing ... America’s wars in Afghanistan consumed Vickers for most of his adult life. In his memoir, he almost seems sad to see them go.
