Van Creveld traces the evolution of command structures from the preindustrial era through the age of `the helicopter and the computer.' He observes both the effect of changes in technology and changes in organization. He shows leaders redesigning and adapting their command systems in an attempt to eliminate uncertainty, culminating with the efforts of the Vietnam-era Office of Systems Analysis to quantify `wherever quantification was possible' in the limitless `quest for certainty.' It is this quest for certainty and the opposing responses of centralization and decentralization that van Creveld sees at the heart of command. Footnotes and bibliography are included.
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