No Lessons Learned

Alfredo Bonadeo was born in Volpedo, Italy. He emigrated to the United States in1952 where he first took an MBA and later a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1969 he married Barbara Bates, and together they settled in Santa Barbara where he was Professor of Italian Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1969-1995). He died in 2011. He has published: Corruption, Conflict, and Power in the Works and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli; D'Annunzio and the Great War; Mark of the Beast: Death and Degradation in the Literature of the Great War; Martial Valor from Beowulf to Vietnam.

While the book rests on the backbone of the Vietnam experience, it aspires to go beyond the confines of that particular war and lead the reader to question an American foreign policy that has, especially since 2001, been militarily driven. The harm done to American and allied soldiers and to the indigent peoples and societies of the countries the U.S. has so thoughtlessly invaded has secured no advantage to the U.S. or any other country. The author delves into the human physical and psychological cost of war and implicitly makes the case for diplomacy over force, restraint, and modesty over hubris. He establishes the importance of cause to the combatant's ability to fight winningly and to remain psychologically sound in battle and afterward. It is especially relevant today because it connects the human and societal consequences of the decisions made in and around that war with the recent squandered ventures in the Middle East.