Which other Great Strategic Thinkers have you really read?

Here is a bit of a cheat list for those who find themselves wondering. https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/show/masters_of_war_historys_greatest_strategic_thinkers

I tried reading about Sun Tzu and Jomini but could not get excited over them. I like Clausewitz tenets. I think his Trinity of Passion, Military Genius, and Rational Government are on target.

I prefer to read anything that theorizes an irregular approach to war. I enjoy Clausewitz, but I’ve become inoculated in the SOF realm so at times it feels like his trinity is best suited for the conventional force. The fog of war and friction are certainly important, and he did provide us with the Center of Gravity construct, to which the CARVER matrix can really define where you should focus efforts. Using war as a continuation of policy by other means is fascinating to me in relation to the period following Clausewitz – which Fredrick and Moltke seemed to take to heart. Fredrick played an exceptional game of diplomatic chess that insulated the Germanic people from war – put his successor Wilhelm seemed to have undone the many treaties Fredrick acquired when they entered WWI along side of the Austrians. But would WWI look different if Moltke agreed to reverse the western mobilization?

T.E. Lawrence applied Clausewitzian strategy with his own irregular approach – instead of attacking the Turkish garrison in Medina he harassed the lines that supplied the garrison and ultimately gained legitimacy and influence over the population and rendered the Turks obsolete. Since Lawrence, we are taking a harder look at things through an irregular lens. Irregular approaches have a much greater impact today than they did during the time of monarchies because the impact and burden of war are much higher on elected officials because the population can hold them accountable. Influencing a population when we are left of bang can have great impacts on international relations and how the other country conducts itself domestically and internationally. We have been de-legitimized in the eyes of host nation populaces because our adversaries exploit us using irregular tactics during GWOT. Outside of GWOT, we are almost always in phase zero and our operational inputs come from the DOD, DoS, NGOs, IGOs, and other inter-agency partners and we have an abundance of fiscal authorities that provide us with funding for irregular activities.