Marines


Biography

Marine Corps War College
James G. Lacey, Ph.D.

Dr. James Lacey is the Course Director, Campaigning and Warfare; Professor of Strategic Studies; and holds the Horner Chair of War Studies at the Marine Corps War College.  Prior to taking this position, he was a widely published senior analyst at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Washington, D.C.  Lacey served over a dozen years on active duty as an infantry officer and is retired from the Army Reserve.  

Dr. Lacey is the author of: 

  • Moment of Battle (Bantam),
  • The First Clash (Bantam),
  • Takedown: the 3rd Infantry Division’s 21-Day Assault on Baghdad (Naval Institute Press),
  • Pershing (Palgrave-Macmillan)
  • The Making of Peace (Cambridge University Press)
  • The Making of Grand Strategy (Cambridge University Press)
  • Keep from All Thoughtful Men (USNI, 2010)
 

He has also published a trilogy of works on global terrorism, published early in 2008 (Naval Institute Press).  

Three of his more recent books are: 

  • Great Strategic Rivalries (Oxford, 2017)
  • The Washington War (Bantam, 2019) dealing with the relationship between FDR, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the War Cabinet during WW II.
  • Gods of War (Bantam, 2020), dealing with those times in history when great captains have fought each other.  
 

His latest books are: 

  • Rome: A Strategy of Empire (Oxford, 2022)
  • Supreme Leadership (Routledge, 2023), an edited volume.
 

Current Research Interests include:  The American Revolution, 1944 in the European Theater, Future conflict and competition, and Operational level warfare through the ages.