My response to this monograph was basically "meh," as the author attempts to convince the reader that there was a difference between preventative war and LeMay's concept of preemption, best described as a hair-trigger counter-offensive. Not only did Albertson fail to convince me that there was an effective difference, he also left me wondering in the end whether he believes that there was a difference himself. What I also found disappointing was Albertson failing to engage with the low operational readiness of SAC at the time LeMay took command; I have yet to find an analytic assessment of George Kenney's stint as SAC's first commander, and was hoping to get that out of this work. ( )