Red Storm Rising has a close parallel with The Third World War by Sir John Hackett (1978). Hackett's book is more scholarly than Clancy's and was partly intended to point out the weaknesses of NATO strategy. In it, Hackett provides a somewhat sketchy account of a conventional war in Europe. His scenes of tank warfare are notably similar to those found in Red Storm Rising. However, in The Third World War characterization is much more vague, and the military expertise of the book's several consultants often takes precedence over the storytelling. On the other hand, Hackett's book makes the hideous destruction of modern warfare even more appalling than in Clancy's novel.