Editing Max Boot (section)

==Career==
Boot has been the [[Jeane J. Kirkpatrick]] Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] (CFR), a contributing editor to ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'' and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', and a regular contributor to other publications such as ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name=los/> He has [[blog]]ged regularly for ''[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]'' since 2007,<ref>"[https://www.commentarymagazine.com/author/max-boot Author Archive: Max Boot]". ''Commentary''. Retrieved January 13, 2017.</ref> and for several years on its blog page called ''Contentions''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/category/contentions/contentions?author_name=boot |title=Max Boot|work=Commentary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207080048/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/category/contentions?author_name=boot |archive-date=February 7, 2011|access-date=January 13, 2017}}</ref> He has given lectures at U.S. military institutions such as the [[U.S. Army War College|Army War College]] and the [[Command and General Staff College]].<ref name=los/>

Boot worked as a writer and as an editor for ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' from 1992 to 1994. He moved to ''The Wall Street Journal'' for the next eight years.<ref name=cfr/> After writing an investigative column about legal issues called "Rule of Law" for four years, he was promoted to editor of the op-ed page.<ref name=vevel>{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 24, 1998|access-date=August 21, 2009|title=Sentencing the Judges|first=Lawrence|last=Velvel|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/29670339.html?dids=29670339:29670339&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+24%2C+1998&author=Lawrence+Velvel&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Sentencing+the+Judges&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131194805/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/29670339.html?dids=29670339:29670339&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+24,+1998&author=Lawrence+Velvel&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Sentencing+the+Judges&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013}}</ref>

Boot left the ''Journal'' in 2002 to join the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] as a Senior Fellow in National Security Studies.<ref name=cfr/> His initial writings with the CFR appeared in several publications, including ''[[The New York Post]]'', ''[[The Times]]'', ''[[Financial Times]]'', and ''[[International Herald Tribune]]''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070139/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2002 Max Boot – Publications – 2002]. [[Council of Foreign Relations]]. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref>

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?104104-1/out-order ''Booknotes'' interview with Boot on ''Out of Order'', May 31, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?169921-1/the-savage-wars-peace Presentation by Boot on ''The Savage Wars of Peace'', April 25, 2002], [[C-SPAN]]| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?195477-1/war-made-new Presentation by Boot on ''War Made New'', November 14, 2006], [[C-SPAN]]| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?195560-5/war-made-new ''Washington Journal'' interview with Boot on ''War Made New'', December 20, 2006], [[C-SPAN]]| video5 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?197839-7/war-made-new Presentation by Boot on ''War Made New'', April 29, 2007], [[C-SPAN]]| video6 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?310429-1/invisible-armies Presentation by Boot on ''Invisible Armies'', January 17, 2013], [[C-SPAN]]| video7 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?438632-1/max-boot-discusses-the-road-not-taken Presentation by Boot on ''The Road Not Taken'', January 9, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]| video8 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?452815-5/washington-journal-max-boot-discusses-state-conservatism-us ''Washington Journal'' interview with Boot on ''The Corrosion of Conservatism'', October 11, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]| video9 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?453559-2/the-corrosion-conservatism Presentation by Boot on ''The Corrosion of Conservatism'', October 29, 2018], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Boot wrote ''Savage Wars of Peace'', a study of small wars in American history, with [[Basic Books]] in 2002.<ref name=cfr/> The title came from [[Kipling]]'s poem "[[White Man's Burden]]".<ref name=powell/> James A. Russell in ''[[Journal of Cold War Studies]]'' criticized the book, saying that "Boot did none of the critical research, and thus the inferences he draws from his uncritical rendition of history are essentially meaningless."<ref>Russell, James A. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/v006/6.3russell.html "The Savage Wars of Peace: Review"]. ''[[Journal of Cold War Studies]]'' 6.3 (2004) pp. 124–126</ref> [[Benjamin Schwarz (writer)|Benjamin Schwarz]] argued in ''The New York Times'' that Boot asked the U.S. military to do a "nearly impossible task", and he criticized the book as "unrevealing".<ref name=powell>[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/21/books/the-post-powell-doctrine.html "The Post-Powell Doctrine"]. By Benjamin Schwarz. ''The New York Times''. Published July 21, 2002. Retrieved August 22, 2009.</ref> [[Victor Davis Hanson]] in [[History News Network]] gave a positive review, saying that "Boot's well-written narrative is not only fascinating reading, but didactic as well".<ref>[http://hnn.us/articles/699.html "Books: Max Boot's The Savage Wars of Peace"]. By [[Victor Davis Hanson]]. [[History News Network]]. Published April 29, 2002.</ref> Robert M. Cassidy in ''[[Military Review]]'' labeled it "extraordinary".<ref>Cassidy, Robert M. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_6_84/ai_n15399746/ "The Savage Wars of Peace"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226183507/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_6_84/ai_n15399746/ |date=December 26, 2009 }}. ''Military Review'', Nov–Dec 2004. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref> Boot's book also won the 2003 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award from the [[Marine Corps Heritage Foundation]] as the best non-fiction book recently published pertaining to Marine Corps history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/General+Wallace+M.+Greene+Jr.+Award|title=General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award – Book awards – LibraryThing|website=librarything.com}}</ref>

Boot wrote once again for the CFR in 2003 and 2004.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070239/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2003 Max Boot – Publications – 2003]. [[Council of Foreign Relations]]. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070334/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2004 Max Boot – Publications – 2004]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref>

The [[World Affairs Councils of America]] named Boot one of "the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy" in 2004.<ref name=cfr/> He also worked as member of the [[Project for the New American Century]] (PNAC) in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newamericancentury.org/russia-20040928.htm|title=An Open Letter to the Heads of State and Government of the European Union and NATO|publisher=Project for the New American Century|date=September 28, 2004|access-date=August 21, 2009|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040929083336/http://www.newamericancentury.org/russia-20040928.htm|archive-date=September 29, 2004|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Boot published the work ''War Made New'', an analysis of revolutions in military technology since 1500, in 2006.<ref name=cfr/> The book's central thesis is that a military succeeds when it has the dynamic, forward-looking structures and administration in place to exploit new technologies. It concludes that the U.S. military may lose its edge if it does not become flatter, less bureaucratic, and more decentralized.<ref>[http://www.brookings.edu/events/2006/1026defense.aspx War Made New] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308133246/http://www.brookings.edu/events/2006/1026defense.aspx |date=March 8, 2008 }}. [[Brookings Institution]]. Published October 26, 2006.</ref> The book received praise from [[Josiah Bunting III]] in ''The New York Times'', who called it "unusual and magisterial",<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/books/review/Bunting.t.html?_r=1 "Killing Machines"]. By [[Josiah Bunting III|Josiah Bunting]]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Published December 17, 2006. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref> and criticism from [[Martin Sieff]] in ''[[The American Conservative]]'', who called it "remarkably superficial".<ref>Sieff, Martin. [http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/mar/12/00029/ "On War It's Not"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326093228/http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/mar/12/00029/ |date=March 26, 2009 }}. ''The American Conservative''. Published March 12, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref>

Boot wrote many more articles with the CFR in 2007,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110622071451/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2007 Max Boot – Publications – 2007]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref> and he received the [[Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism]] that year.<ref name=cfr/> In an April 2007 episode of ''[[Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg]]'', Boot stated that he "used to be a journalist" and that he currently views himself purely as a [[military historian]].<ref name=quo>[https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript1254.html "America, Quo Vadis?" Part 1]. ''[[Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg]]''. Originally broadcast April 12, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2009.</ref> Boot served as a foreign policy adviser to [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[John McCain]] in his [[2008 United States presidential election]] bid.<ref>{{cite news |title=The War Over the Wonks  |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/documents/the-war-over-the-wonks.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=October 2, 2007 |access-date=December 4, 2007}}</ref> He stated in an editorial in ''World Affairs Journal'' that he saw strong parallels between [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[John McCain|McCain]].<ref name=cfr08>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604070652/http://www.cfr.org/experts/israel-democracy-and-human-rights-iraq/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2008 Max Boot – Publications – 2008]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref> Boot continued to write for the CFR in several publications in 2008 and 2009.<ref name=cfr08/><ref>[https://archive.today/20130414164612/http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?groupby=3&hide=1&id=5641&filter=2009 Max Boot – Publications – 2009]. Council of Foreign Relations. Accessed August 30, 2009.</ref>

[[File:Current Strategy Forum 100608-N-9923C-222 (4682746513).jpg|alt=Max Boot sitting at a table on stage, with Henry R. Nau seated to his right, at the 2010 Current Strategy Forum at the Naval War College in Rhode Island.|300x300px|Max Boot (R) speaks at the second panel discussion at the 2010 Current Strategy Forum at the Naval War College.|thumb]]

Boot wrote for the CFR through 2010 and 2011 for publications such as ''Newsweek'', ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', ''The New York Times'' and ''The Weekly Standard''. He particularly argued that President [[Barack Obama]]'s [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act|health care plans]] made maintaining U.S. superpower status harder, that withdrawal of U.S. troops from [[Iraq]] occurred prematurely while making another war there more likely, and that the initial U.S. victory in [[Afghanistan]] had been undone by government complacency though forces could still pull off a victory. He also wrote op-eds criticizing planned [[Austerity|budget austerity measures]] in both the U.S. and the U.K. as hurting their national security interests.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2009&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2010 Max Boot – Publications – 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013053048/http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2009&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2010 |date=October 13, 2014 }}. [[Council of Foreign Relations]].</ref><ref>[http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2010&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2011 Max Boot – Publications – 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013051204/http://www.cfr.org/experts/national-security-warfare-terrorism/max-boot/b5641?filter=2010&groupby=3&amp%3Bhide=1&filter=2011 |date=October 13, 2014 }}. Council of Foreign Relations.</ref>

In September 2012, Boot co-wrote with [[Brookings Institution]] senior fellow Michael Doran a ''New York Times'' op-ed titled "5 Reasons to Intervene in Syria Now", advocating U.S. military force to create a countrywide [[no-fly zone]] reminiscent of [[NATO]]'s role in the [[Kosovo War]]. He stated first and second that "American intervention would diminish Iran's influence in the Arab world" and that "a more muscular American policy could keep the conflict from spreading" with "sectarian strife in Lebanon and Iraq". Third, Boot argued that "training and equipping reliable partners within [[Syria]]'s internal opposition" could help "create a bulwark against extremist groups like Al Qaeda". He concluded that "American leadership on Syria could improve relations with key allies like Turkey and Qatar" as well as "end a terrible human-rights disaster".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/opinion/5-reasons-to-intervene-in-syria-now.html | work=The New York Times | first1=Michael | last1=Doran | first2=Max | last2=Boot | title=5 Reasons to Intervene in Syria Now | date=September 26, 2012}}</ref>

Another well received book by Boot, titled ''Invisible Armies'' (2013), is about the history of [[guerrilla warfare]], analyzing various cases of successful and unsuccessful insurgent efforts such as the fighting during the [[American Revolutionary War|American war of independence]], the [[Vietnam War]], and the current [[Syrian Civil War]]. He states that traditional, [[Conventional war|conventional army]] tactics as employed by the American military under the administrations of [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] and [[Barack Obama|President Obama]] against guerrilla organizations have produced strategic failures. Boot has discussed his book in various programs such as the [[Hoover Institution]]'s ''[[Uncommon Knowledge]]'' series, appearing on it in January 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hoover.org/research/max-boot-guerilla-warfare|title=Max Boot on guerilla warfare|publisher=Hoover Institute}}</ref>