A stark warning: Washington is at real risk of strategic defeat in any war with China.

This book dissects precisely how the United States imagines fighting the People's Republic of China, and why it risks failing. Franz-Stefan Gady contends that the US military approach to a potential conflict over Taiwan is unlikely to succeed, relying heavily on both rapidly established information superiority and a decisive victory. This may increase the threat of nuclear escalation between the world's only superpowers.

The more likely scenario is a prolonged war of attrition across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. America's society, armed forces and industrial capacity are ill-prepared for this--a deficiency stemming from a military culture that prioritises advanced technology over mass, and from a lack of public or political will for the sacrifices required by such a conflict.

Gady's superb research and analysis, based on US doctrine, force structure and general 'ways of war', reveal the significant risks to the United States in a potential conflict with China, whether in the 2020s or 2030s.