Making Warriors in a Global Era provides ethnographic data, analyses, and discussions to infuse new debates among both military personnel and academics about the rise of special operations forces and the ways they impact how armed conflicts are dealt with and how wars are fought.

Chapter 1: Bringing Anthropology HomeChapter 2: The Stories Told, and What They TellChapter 3: Institutional Apprenticeship: Selection and Basic TrainingChapter 4: Skillset and DisciplineChapter 5: SOFish Mindset: Creativity, Initiative, and InnovationChapter 6: Change of Pace: Switching On and OffChapter 7: Special Forces, Special Organization, Special PracticesChapter 8: Wars and Warriors in the Global Era

The real value of Making Warriors is that it is an outstanding ethnography, a professional deep-dive into what the Norwegian Naval Special Operations Commando (Marinejegerkommandoen, MJK) is all about. . . . Danielsen’s work makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on continuity and change within the armed forces, specifically SOF, and thus achieves her primary aim. Written in an engaging and accessible style, with the occasional sprinkle of humour, she provides rich descriptions of the MJKculture and how it functions as a learning organization. . . . Overall, Making Warriors is an excellent book that offers insightful micro-and meso-level analyses, and it is replete with thick descriptions of life within MJK. It will be useful to readers with diverse backgrounds and interests, including military scholars and social scientists, anthropology students, and anyone interested in learning about small-nation Special Operations Forces or how to conduct top-notch ethnography. It is accessible to undergraduate readers and could easily be used as an exemplar text in a course on qualitative methods.Danielsennever brags about her accomplishments or flaunts her unprecedented access for the readers. She doesn’t have to.It is implicit as the reader follows along. Making Warriors is better than a tell-all book, it is a richly informative story written by a consummate professional and worth every minute spent reading it.