Sawyer, Ralph D.

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Sawyer, Ralph D.

PERSONAL:

Education: Attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

ADDRESSES:

Office—P.O. Box 56, Orleans, MA 02653. E-mail—[email protected]; ralph.d. [email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, historian, consultant to business and governmental agencies. Sawyer Strategic Consultants, president; University of Massachusetts, senior research fellow, 2003-07; Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, fellow, 2003—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Visiting fellow at the Pell Center for International Relations, 2007-08; Fulbright fellow.

WRITINGS:

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1993.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) Sunzi, The Art of War, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 1994.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) Ling Ch'i Ching: A Classic Chinese Oracle, Shambhala (Boston, MA), 1995, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 2004.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) Sun Pin Military Methods, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1995.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) The Art of the Warrior: Leadership and Strategy from the Chinese Military Classics: With Selections from the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China and Sun Pin's Military Methods, Shambhala (Boston, MA), 1996.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) Sunzi, The Complete Art of War, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1996.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) One Hundred Unorthodox Strategies: Battle and Tactics of Chinese Warfare, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1996.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) Unorthodox Strategies for the Everyday Warrior, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1996.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) Shang Lü, The Six Secret Teachings on the Way of Strategy, Shambhala (Boston, MA), 1997.

(With Mei-Chün Sawyer) The Tao of Spycraft: Intelligence Theory and Practice in Traditional China, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1998.

(Annotated translation with historical introduction, with Mei-Chün Sawyer) The Tao of Peace: Lessons from Ancient China on the Dynamics of Conflict, Shambhala (Boston, MA), 1999, also published as The Tao of War, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 2002.

(With Mei-Chün Sawyer) Fire and Water: The Art of Incendiary and Aquatic Warfare in China, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 2003.

(With Mei-Chün Sawyer) Sunzi, The Essential Art of War, Basic Books (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

(With Mei-Chün Sawyer) The Tao of Deception: Unorthodox Warfare in Historic and Modern China, Basic Books (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

Author's works have been translated into more than ten languages, including Russian and Chinese.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ralph D. Sawyer is a writer, historian, and consultant. Although he sometimes works in conjunction with various universities, including four years spent as a senior research fellow at the University of Massachusetts and a visiting fellow at the Pell Center for International Relations for the 2007-08 academic year, he is an independent contractor and the president of his own company, Sawyer Strategic Consultants. Sawyer earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then went on to do his graduate work in Chinese studies at Harvard University. Sawyer is well versed in Asian military history and strategic ideas and often lectures on these subjects, both in an academic setting and for business gatherings. He is fluent in both modern and classical Chinese, as well as Japanese, and often puts his skills to use in the translation of classic texts. In particular he has issued several versions of the famous Sunzi, or Sun-tzu, work, The Art of War, for which he has also provided annotation and historical commentary. He has also translated such ancient and important texts as The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Ling Ch'i Ching: A Classic Chinese Oracle, and Shang Lü's The Six Secret Teachings on the Way of Strategy.

In addition to his work as a translator and commentator, Sawyer has written several books of his own. The Art of the Warrior: Leadership and Strategy from the Chinese Military Classics: With Selections from the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China and Sun Pin's Military Methods is a complex melding of some of the greatest military strategy and leadership techniques from China's history. Sawyer examines how Chinese philosophy has developed through the centuries as a result of their approach to battle and to leadership during times of war and in keeping with their ideas regarding strategy. He also looks at ways in which Chinese theories and philosophies have spilled into the West and proven to be an influence on the modern-day culture in Western society. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly praised Sawyer's book, finding it to be replete with "profound insights into the human condition and … the nature of power."

The Tao of Spycraft: Intelligence Theory and Practice in Traditional China addresses the importance of intelligence, however it may be acquired, in matters of politics, diplomacy, and wartime strategy. Sawyer compares ancient Chinese policies regarding the acquisition of knowledge and the need for a unified front in all matters relating to national power to the modern-day interest in taking much the same approach. Unlike the current approach to intelligence, where information acquisition is delegated to its own department and kept in relative isolation, the Chinese believed it to be an integral part of all aspects of national offense and defense. Sawyer covers the topic in six segments, including a section on early history, spycraft, covert activities, evaluation of intelligence, military use of intelligence, and methods of divining future behavior based on limited intelligence. The importance of the human role in the gathering and interpretation of intelligence is stressed across all sections of Sawyer's book. In a contribution for the Naval War College Review, John R. Arpin declared that "for serious students of China, intelligence tradecraft, or information operations, this book provides essential understanding of contemporary Chinese statecraft."

In Fire and Water: The Art of Incendiary and Aquatic Warfare in China, published in 2003 by Westview Press, Sawyer examines the warfare tactics used in China prior to the development of gunpowder. As the title relates, he focuses on both incendiary and aquatic warfare techniques, and over the course of his research he refers to a variety of sources, including philosophy and military books of the era, general histories of the Chinese dynasties, and various military chronicles kept by Chinese officials and officers both during the period in question and afterward. He divides each subject of the book among historical facts, theory, and practical applications of the various techniques of the day. Kenneth M. Swope, in a review for History: Review of New Books, noted that it was sometimes difficult to follow the historical and practical discussions as there are no maps included in the book as points of reference. Overall, Swope indicated disappointment with the volume, noting: "Sawyer constantly jumps across space and time in his references and examples, and he provides very little background information for many key events and important figures." He concluded that readers "may find much of interest in this work, but they will have to be patient and persistent." David A. Graff, in a review for the Historian, remarked that "the book's greatest weakness is that it raises some extremely important issues without ever seriously engaging them." He added, however, that it "sheds light on some hitherto obscure aspects of Chinese warfare and brings together a great deal of material that had not been available in English."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Asian Affairs, June, 1996, Anthony Farrar-Hockley, review of Sun Pin Military Methods, p. 236.

Booklist, March 15, 1993, Roland Green, review of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, p. 1281.

China Business Review, July-August, 1994, Sheila Melvin, review of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, p. 50.

Far Eastern Economic Review, July 21, 1994, Andrew Sherry, review of The Art of War, p. 35; December 5, 1996, Janet Brooks, review of The Complete Art of War, p. 58.

Foreign Affairs, November-December, 1993, Eliot A. Cohen, review of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, p. 162; November, 1998, Eliot A. Cohen, review of The Tao of Spycraft: Intelligence Theory and Practice in Traditional China, p. 151.

Historian, fall, 2005, David A. Graff, review of Fire and Water: The Art of Incendiary and Aquatic Warfare in China, p. 556.

History: Review of New Books, spring, 2004, Kenneth M. Swope, review of Fire and Water, p. 117.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, June, 1995, Ellis Tinios, review of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, p. 261.

Journal of Military History, July, 1994, review of The Art of War, p. 563; April, 1997, William A. Turner, review of The Complete Art of War, p. 355; Janu- ary, 2001, David A. Graff, review of The Tao of Peace: Lessons from Ancient China on the Dynamics of Conflict, p. 167; July, 2004, Edward L. Dreyer, review of Fire and Water, p. 948; July, 2007, David A. Graff, review of The Tao of Deception, pp. 910-912.

Library Journal, May 1, 1993, D.E. Showalter, review of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, p. 103; November 1, 1995, David Bourquin, review of Ling Ch'i Ching: A Classic Chinese Oracle, p. 70.

Naval War College Review, winter, 2007, John R. Arpin, review of The Tao of Spycraft, p. 152.

Pacific Affairs, fall, 1998, June Teufel Dreyer, review of The Complete Art of War, p. 413.

Publishers Weekly, September 2, 1996, review of The Art of the Warrior: Leadership and Strategy from the Chinese Military Classics: With Selections from the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China and Sun Pin's Military Methods, p. 127; November 29, 1999, "The Daily Tao," review of The Tao of Peace, p. 69.