Goliath

Author Sean McFate
Narrator Joe Knezevich
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Run Time 8 hours and 1 minute
Format Audio
Genre Irregular or guerrilla forces and warfare, Land forces and warfare, Military history: post-WW2 conflicts, Military institutions, Military intelligence, Modern warfare, Naval forces and warfare, Terrorism, armed struggle, Theory of warfare and military science, True war and combat stories.

Get in the xigxag app

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.

Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }}

How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Goliath written by Sean McFate, read by Joe Knezevich.

Everything you think you know about war is wrong.

War is timeless. Some things change - weapons, tactics, leadership - but our desire to go into battle does not. We are in the midst of an age of conflict: global terrorism, Russia's resurgence and China's rise, international criminal empires, climate change and dwindling natural resources.

The stakes are high, and we are dangerously unprepared.

As a former paratrooper and military contractor, Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts. He has seen firsthand the horrors of battle and as a strategist, understands the complexity of the current military situation.

The West is playing the same old war games, but the enemy has changed the rules. In this new age of war:

-technology will not save us,
-victory will belong to the cunning, not the strong,
-plausible deniability is more potent than firepower
-corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power than nation states, and loyalty will sit with the highest bidder.

This is The Art of War for the 21st century. Adapt and we can prevail. Fail, and size and strength won't protect us. Learn how to triumph in the coming age of conflict in ten new rules.

Critics Review

The Freakonomics of modern warfare
Conn Iggulden
An important book
Sir Richard Dearlove, former Director of MI6
Lively and provocative … laced with examples from the history of conflict as well as his own career as a soldier
Sir Lawrence Freedman
A thought-provoking book. Sean McFate has admirably captured the challenges we face with an evolving character of warfare. Technology and the pervasiveness of information have blurred the distinction between peace and war and have opened up seams that our opponents are ruthlessly exploiting, utilising weapons that don’t need to go bang
General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff
Thought-provoking. Sean McFate puts his finger on key issues for Western security
Jonathan Evans, former head of MI5
His iconoclastic book is being hailed by radicals as a wake-up call to governments and armed forces everywhere, to stop doing all the wrong things; to start doing a few right ones . . . Some of what he says makes more sense than much of what comes out of the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence
Max Hastings, Sunday Times
Radical thoughts on the West’s approach to modern warfare
Sunday Times, Must Reads
A well-crafted indictment of The West’s failure to keep pace with the changing face of warfare. The soldier is taught to improvise, adapt, and overcome. In Goliath, Sean McFate shows The West how it can do the same
A fascinating and disturbing book
Economist
Essential Reading
General Stanley McChrystal
Stunning. McFate is the new Sun Tzu
Admiral James Stavridis
McFate understands his subject from the inside… excellent
General Sir Rupert Smith
My summer surprise – the sharpest account of the dilemmas of war and peace I’ve read for years
Robert Fox, Evening Standard
Why do western powers keep getting beaten when they go to war? This hard-hitting polemic by a former US paratrooper explains why – we are addicted to expensive, big tech that is useless against guerillas. Sean McFate’s suggestion that western powers make greater use of mercenaries is interesting
The Times, 100 Best Books for Summer
Brilliantly eccentric
Robert Fox, Evening Standard

More from the same

Narrator

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.