About The Distillery Press
The Distillery Press is founded on a simple yet critical premise: time is a precious resource. Therefore, education in resistance and unconventional warfare must be both effective and efficient in an era where the demands on military professionals, resistance stakeholders, and practitioners of irregular warfare leave little room for academic deep dives. The Distillery Press responds with a clear solution. It distills essential knowledge—drawn from history’s most impactful works—into concise, actionable insights.
Too often, foundational texts on guerrilla warfare and resistance are buried beneath ideological digressions, impractical theorizing, or outdated context. While these works retain historical value, they often fail to meet the needs of modern conflict environments. The Distillery Press prioritizes clarity and utility. It curates the best of these works by stripping them down to their core principles—without sacrificing academic rigor or historical accuracy.
Moreover, by translating complex ideas into digestible formats, we provide a gateway to deeper learning. Whether through condensed vignettes, refined summaries of seminal works, or structured learning modules. As a result, it equips those engaged in resistance and unconventional warfare with the necessary intellectual tools—without wasting a moment.
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Series 1: Masters of Resistance
Series 2: Unconventional Tactics
Series 3: ARIS Abridged
Office of Strategic Services Combined and Remastered Manuals
Mao Zedong’s Principles of People’s War
Guerrilla Warfare According to Mao
Mao Zedong’s Principles of People’s War is a must-read for military strategists, historians, and scholars of resistance studies examining revolutionary warfare. This book explores Mao’s doctrine of protracted war, guerrilla tactics, and the strategic fusion of ideology with military action. By analyzing his leadership and the principles that fueled the Chinese Communist Revolution. Mao Zedong’s People’s War connects historical insurgency strategies to modern conflicts. It offers invaluable insights for today’s warfighters, policymakers, and revolutionary movements.
The Desert and the Sword
T.E. Lawrence on Irregular Warfare
The Desert and the Sword: T.E. Lawrence on Irregular Warfare is a must-read for military professionals, historians, and resistance scholars seeking timeless lessons in unconventional warfare. This book distills Lawrence’s insights from the Arabian Revolt. It connects them to modern conflict and irregular warfare strategy. By analyzing his tactics, leadership, and adaptability in a structured manner. The Desert and the Sword bridges the gap between history and contemporary resistance movements. It offers practical takeaways for today’s warfighters.
Revolutionary Spirits
Guerrilla Warfare According to Che Guevara
Revolutionary Spirit: Guerrilla Warfare, According to Che Guevara, is a deep dive into the principles of insurgency, resistance, and revolutionary strategy. Drawing from Guevara’s experiences in Cuba, Bolivia, and beyond. This book dissects his approach to guerrilla warfare, leadership, and ideology. It connects them to modern-day conflicts. With a structured analysis of his successes and failures. Revolutionary Spirit explores how his strategies continue to influence contemporary insurgencies. It also covers unconventional warfare, offering valuable insights for those studying the art of rebellion.
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Masters of Resistance (All 3 Books for the price of 2)
The Core Tenets of Mao Zedong, T.E. Lawrence, & Che Guevara
This compilation distills the strategic thinking of three of the most influential figures in the history of irregular warfare. From the deserts of Arabia to the jungles of Latin America. And the revolution that shaped modern China. Masters of Resistance brings together essential lessons on how insurgencies are organized, fought, and sustained.
Each volume offers a focused, accessible breakdown of its subject’s most important ideas—streamlined for clarity, but grounded in historical experience. Whether studying Mao’s protracted war theory, Lawrence’s tribal diplomacy and hit-and-run tactics, or Che’s guerrilla campaigns and revolutionary doctrine. Readers will gain a tactical and ideological primer on the art of rebellion.
Ideal for military professionals, analysts, and students of strategy. Also, anyone seeking to understand the foundations of resistance in the modern era.
The Guerrilla Tactical Triad: Raid, Ambush, Recon
The Guerrilla Tactical Triad: Raid, Ambush, Recon distills the fundamentals of irregular warfare into a concise, practical framework for modern practitioners and students of conflict. Drawing on centuries of asymmetric engagements—from ancient steppe riders to contemporary hybrid battlefields—this volume examines the enduring utility of raids, ambushes, and reconnaissance.
Designed as a professional reference, it explains each tactic in depth, shows how they integrate into a self-sustaining operational cycle, and analyzes how adversaries counter them. Case studies and modern applications illustrate why the triad remains essential for both resistance movements and those tasked with defeating them.
Undergrounds in Insurgent, Revolutionary, and Resistance Warfare: Abridged Edition
Undergrounds in Insurgent, Revolutionary, and Resistance Warfare: Abridged Edition distills decades of ARIS research on clandestine organization into a clear, field-ready reference. It examines how undergrounds form, secure themselves, and sustain resistance under pressure—bridging theory and real-world application for those studying or confronting irregular conflict.
Focused on operational insight, this edition clarifies the structure and logic of underground networks and their coordination with auxiliary and guerrilla elements. Streamlined for modern use, it delivers the essential lessons of the original ARIS study without losing analytical depth or practical value.
Human Factors of Undergrounds in Insurgencies: Abridged Edition
Human Factors Considerations of Undergrounds in Insurgencies examines the psychological, social, and cultural foundations that shape resistance and insurgent behavior. Originally produced under USASOC’s Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) program, it explores why individuals join, remain in, or leave underground movements—and how leadership, ideology, and group dynamics sustain or fracture them over time.
Designed as a professional reference, this abridged edition distills complex behavioral science into operationally relevant insights for planners, educators, and practitioners. Case studies and comparative analyses—from Maoist cadres to modern jihadist networks—illustrate how human motivation and organizational psychology drive insurgent adaptation, and how understanding those dynamics remains essential to countering them.
Legal Implications of the Status of Persons in Resistance: Abridged Edition
Legal Implications of the Status of Persons in Resistance analyzes how international and domestic law define, constrain, and enable resistance movements and the forces that support or oppose them. Produced under USASOC’s Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) program, it examines the legal thresholds separating nonviolent resistance, rebellion, insurgency, and belligerency—showing how each category affects the status and protection of those involved.
Designed as a professional reference, it translates complex law-of-war principles into operationally relevant guidance for practitioners and planners. Case studies from conflicts such as Libya, Syria, and Kosovo illustrate how recognition, legitimacy, and foreign involvement alter combatant status, highlighting the ambiguity that defines modern unconventional warfare.
Threshold of Violence: Abridged Edition
Threshold of Violence explores the critical moment when resistance movements transition from nonviolent opposition to armed conflict. Originally developed under USASOC’s Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) program, it analyzes the strategic, psychological, and social forces that drive this escalation—examining how state repression, ideology, and external support influence the decision to employ violence.
Designed as a professional reference, this abridged edition distills complex case studies and theoretical models into practical insights for practitioners and analysts. It illustrates how movements assess risk, legitimacy, and necessity when crossing the threshold, and how governments can recognize early indicators of radicalization before violent confrontation becomes inevitable.
Office of Strategic Services: Combined and Remastered Manuals
This comprehensive edition brings together the full suite of eight original manuals produced by the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Carefully reconstructed from the original wartime documents, the text has been reformatted, standardized, and cleaned of archival inconsistencies to make it accessible to modern readers.
Every manual remains true to its historical source while benefiting from clear typography and a unified structure designed for research and professional reference. The series spans the breadth of OSS doctrine—covering sabotage planning, resistance organization, psychological operations, and covert communications—revealing how America’s first modern intelligence service trained its operatives and shaped the foundations of contemporary special operations.
This volume is both a preservation of history and a practical resource for those studying the evolution of irregular warfare, intelligence tradecraft, and unconventional strategy.
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