“Ghost Fleet” by August Cole and P.W. Singer

This is an entertaining novel written by two “Washington-insider” foreign policy wonks. The quality of the prose is poor, but despite that I could not put the book down. The premise is that America is surprise-attacked by the Chinese PLA with the help of the Russians, of course. The book manages to avoid much hint of xenophobia, however. The strength of the book is in detailing how many new weapons systems and technological advances could be used both by the American military and our enemies in plausible scenarios. Perhaps the most fun part of the book are the chapters which describe an American insurgency that arises following a Chinese occupation of Oahu. While the parallels to the current insurgencies in Af/Pak and Iraq are not subtle at all, it still makes for contemplative thought.