Selling War: A Critical Look at the Military's PR Machine by Alvarez, Steven J.

Selling War: A Critical Look at the Military's PR Machine (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781612347721)

Vendor: Steven J. Alvarez
Product type: Books
Format: Hardcover
$34.95
$34.95
$34.95
Subtotal: $34.95
Selling War: A Critical Look at the Military's PR Machine by Alvarez, Steven J.

Selling War: A Critical Look at the Military's PR Machine

$34.95
Selling War: A Critical Look at the Military's PR Machine by Alvarez, Steven J.

Selling War: A Critical Look at the Military's PR Machine

$34.95
Format: Hardcover
Description
Description
x
In the spring of 2004, army reservist and public affairs officer Steven J. Alvarez waited to be called up as the U.S. military stormed Baghdad and deposed Saddam Hussein. But soon after President Bush's famous PR stunt in which an aircraft carrier displayed the banner "Mission Accomplished," the dynamics of the war shifted. Selling War recounts how the U.S. military lost the information war in Iraq by engaging the wrong audiences--that is, the Western media--by ignoring Iraqi citizens and the wider Arab population, and by paying mere lip service to the directive to "Put an Iraqi face on everything." In the absence of effective communication from the U.S. military, the information void was swiftly filled by Al Qaeda and, eventually, ISIS. As a result, efforts to create and maintain a successful, stable country were complicated and eventually frustrated.


Alvarez couples his experiences as a public affairs officer in Iraq with extensive research on communication and government relations to expose why communications failed and led to the breakdown on the ground. A revealing glimpse into the inner workings of the military's PR machine, where personnel become stewards of presidential legacies and keepers of flawed policies, Selling War provides a critical review of the outdated communication strategies executed in Iraq. Alvarez's candid account demonstrates how a fundamental lack of understanding about how to wage an information war has led to the conditions we face now: the rise of ISIS and the return of U.S. forces to Iraq.



Author: Steven J. Alvarez
ISBN-10: 161234772X
ISBN-13: 9781612347721
Publisher: Potomac Books
Language: English
Published: 03/01/2016
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.57lbs
Size: 9.27h x 6.44w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2016
Foreword 02/29/2016
By Steven J. Alvarez
By Steven J. Alvarez
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Steven J. Alvarez retired as a major from the U.S. Army Reserve after serving twenty-four years in the officer and enlisted ranks, on active duty and in the National Guard and Reserve. A recipient of the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Badge, during his military career Alvarez served as the commander of an Army public affairs detachment as well as the public affairs officer for several general officers and presidential appointees, including David Petraeus. In the private sector Alvarez works as a freelance writer and public relations professional.

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