Christopher Kolenda releases Zero-Sum Victory as an audiobook

Christopher D. Kolenda’s award-winning war strategy book is now available in audio, with narration by Bill Nevitt and publication by University Press Audiobooks. The release arrives as U.S. tensions with Iran and the war in Ukraine renew debate over how military power should connect to political outcomes.

Why it matters: - The audiobook extends Zero-Sum Victory: What We’re Getting Wrong About War to listeners focused on national security, military history, diplomacy and government decision-making. - The book’s core argument is that military success does not equal policy success unless it advances achievable political goals. - The release lands as policymakers debate Iran and Ukraine, making the book’s framework more timely for current war planning and strategy.

What happened: - Christopher D. Kolenda’s Zero-Sum Victory: What We’re Getting Wrong About War is now available as an audiobook. - University Press Audiobooks published the audio edition. - Bill Nevitt narrates the audiobook. - The audiobook is available on Audible. - The original book was published by the University Press of Kentucky. - The book won the 2021 Foreword INDIES Gold Medal in the War & Military category.

The details: - Kolenda examines why overwhelming U.S. military advantages and repeated battlefield wins did not produce durable results in Iraq and Afghanistan. - The book uses Vietnam as a historical comparison. - Kolenda argues that the U.S. government struggles to learn from experience. - The book identifies recurring patterns across administrations, generations and political parties. - Those patterns include pursuing decisive victory when victory is unlikely to achieve U.S. goals. - Another pattern is persisting with failing strategies. - A third pattern is delaying meaningful negotiations until withdrawal weakens American leverage. - Kolenda draws on research, interviews with senior officials, and his own experience as a combat commander, Pentagon adviser and participant in peace talks. - The book says agencies often report progress inside their own lanes while the broader strategy falters. - Optimistic assessments can hide deteriorating conditions. - Local partners can pursue interests that diverge from American objectives. - The longer a war continues, the narrower the room for an acceptable outcome becomes. - Kolenda writes that winning in war occurs when the concerned side, in this case the United States, achieves its policy aims. - Decisive military victory is often not necessary, and pursuing it can be counterproductive. - Retired Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal called the book “the most thoughtful analysis yet of America’s recent conflicts—and future challenges.” - Publishers Weekly described it as “an insightful call for rethinking U.S. military strategy.”

Between the lines: - The audiobook frames war as a political problem as much as a military one. - The argument challenges leaders who treat force as the main tool for achieving national objectives. - The release also suggests that strategic failure often comes from fragmented decision-making, not just battlefield setbacks. - Kolenda’s focus on coordination implies that war outcomes depend on how military, diplomatic and economic tools are combined.

What’s next: - Kolenda is pushing reforms aimed at avoiding future U.S. quagmires. - Those reforms include putting one person in charge of a war and of coordinating U.S. elements of national power. - He also wants strategies that integrate military, economic, diplomatic and other tools instead of letting them operate in silos. - Kolenda calls for stronger expertise in wartime negotiations. - The audiobook may feed debate over what outcomes are actually achievable in conflicts like Iran and Ukraine.

The bottom line: - Zero-Sum Victory argues that America wins wars only when battlefield action is tied to realistic political aims, and the audiobook now puts that message in front of a wider audience.