Jim Mattis is a Pacific Northwest native who served more than four decades as a Marine infantry officer. Following two years as the Secretary of Defense, he returned to the Northwest and is now the Davies Family Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Bing West has written ten books about combat. He served as a Marine grunt in Vietnam and later as an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. He has been on hundreds of patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan, including many operations with General Mattis. He is a member of the Military History Working Group at the Hoover Institution. He lives with his wife, Betsy, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Newport, Rhode Island.
A portrait of [Jim] Mattis's life-defining love for the Marine Corps . . . His prose sings. . . . He clearly expresses a commander's intent in any situation and gives latitude to adapt to circumstances. . . . Each mission gives him another body of knowledge, another strength, greater capacity to live his devotion to his country. --David Brooks, The New York Times An instructive and entertaining leadership manual for executives, managers, and military officers . . . Mattis is a gifted storyteller. --Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic Combining simplicity and thoughtfulness, Jim Mattis has produced a classic account of a lifetime of service. Call Sign Chaos is a lesson in leadership and an evocation of humanity in the cause of peace. --Henry Kissinger In this magnificent memoir, Jim Mattis details many important events in his career, but he also does much more: He explains how he is informed by his experiences in a way that teaches you how to learn from your own. Read, enjoy, and learn. --George Shultz