Out of the Mountains

‘A brilliant book by the most unfettered and analytically acute mind in the military intelligentsia.’ — Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums‘The nature of future conflicts with both state and non-state enemies, and the kind of weapons that will be used, is spelled out in a new book by the perceptive and thoughtful counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen. … Out of the Mountains is a warning of the vulnerability of what he calls “feral cities”, of coastal ones in particular, faced with hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, snipers, and bombings.’ — The Guardian In his third book, David Kilcullen takes us out of the mountains: away from the remote, rural guerrilla warfare of Afghanistan, and into the marginalised slums and complex security threats of the world's coastal cities, where almost 75 per cent of us will be living by mid-century. Scrutinising major environmental trends - population growth, coastal urbanisation - and increasing digital connectivity he projects a future of feral cities, urban systems under stress, and increasing overlaps between crime and war, internal and external threats, and the real and virtual worlds. Informed by Kilcullen's own fieldwork in the Caribbean, Somalia, the Middle East and Afghanistan, and that of his field research teams in cities in Central America and Africa, Out of the Mountains presents detailed, on-the-ground accounts of the new faces of modern conflict - - from the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, to transnational drug networks, local street gangs, and the uprisings of the Arab Spring.Winner of the United States Army Superior Civilian Service Medal, David Kilcullen is an internationally renowned strategist who has authored numerous books on the subject and advised governments at the highest level. A renowned interpreter of contemporary warfare warns that in the future, conflict will be urban, coastal, and digitally networked Chilling account of the new face of modern conflict — transnational drug networks, local street gangs, uprisings stemming from the Arab Spring, and more