Heuser (international relations, U. of Reading, Britain) has assembled excerpts from the writing of eight military and political strategists between 1548 and 1816, among which is neither Machiavelli nor Clausewitz. Her point is to identify the sources for ideas that the two famous writers borrowed or invented independently, or for ideas that are misattributed by modern scholars. She chose passages for enduring relevance--that is, strategies that were not dependent on technology that has been surpassed--and places them in the context of the power struggles they were created to address. As well as translating texts from foreign languages, she has modernized English as recent as Elizabethan so readers can access the ideas without having to grapple with strange language. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)