You're gonna love it. Wait till you get to the epilogue. The rest of the book was pretty much a scholarly exploration of the effects a violent mass confrontation has over the ensuing decades; the epilogue actually applies it to the post 9/11 world. It's VDH at his best. If I weren't afraid of an FR/copyright issue I'd type the whole doggone thing in for discussion.
I saw VDH on the CSPAN-2 Book Notes a while back and realized I had missed an opportunity to listen to him talk about Ripples of Battle and maybe ask him a few questions. The show was recorded at a local book store a week or so earlier. He kept me riveted with his discussion of the book.
BTW, afternoon bump in case anyone missed this memorable column.