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 enlarge | Author: Bob Woodward
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $32.00
Buy Used: $13.00
You Save: $19.00 (59%)
New (58) Used (27) Collectible (6) from $13.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 3411
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.7
ISBN: 1416558977
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9781416558972
ASIN: 1416558977
Publication Date: September 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 War Within is a fantastic read December 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The behind the scenes look at the decision to proceed with the seige. Fantastic book. It was amazing to see how smart some of the players were and clueless the others were.
 Illumintaing & Comprehensive But Poorly Written December 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are seeking an accurate and comprehensive account of the Bush administration's failures that lead to worsening conditions in Iraq there isn't a better book out there. Woodward deserves ample credit for his precise reporting as one gets the sense that he was standing in the room as many key meetings, conversations and decisions were occurring in the White House.
If you want this account to be well written and a `page turner' `The War Within' may not be the book for you. After barely finishing `The War Within', I understood why Woodward strength was characterized as `gathering information' and Bernstein was viewed as the `better writer' in their earlier collaborative efforts. At times, reading `The War Within' felt like running a marathon on a hot and humid day.
Woodward's book is especially illuminating when it comes to understanding the decision making process in the Bush White House as well as the various failures of both the President himself and key operatives when it came to Iraq. The reader comes away knowing how key personnel including Chaney, Rumsfeld, and Bush himself approached their jobs and how their blind spots took the country down a perilous road.
However, the book reads more like a transcript than a concise and well flowing narrative. One gets the sense that Woodward's publishers were so eager to get this book on the shelves before the Presidential election which lead to corners being cut in the book's writing and editing. Ultimately, I came away with the information I set out to learn, but it wasn't always a pleasurable ride getting there.
Impecably researched, but a little dry December 5, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have the utmost respect for Bob Woodward as a journalist. I don't think anyone could read this book an not come away with the sense that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of interviews and research behind the 400+ pages. His ability to reconstruct entire conversations about some of the most fundamental decisions in the Iraq War is remarkable.
Woodward does something that very few other journalists are capable of doing. He reports on the facts in as objective a manner as possible, without really providing any analysis or interpretation; he leaves that to the reader. He turns the reader into a fly on the wall, observing history.
With all of that said, the book is a little dry. There is only so much you can read about how few people in the Bush Administration really got what was going on, how dysfunctional things were, how many separate groups were off conducting their own secret strategy reviews, etc. At some point, it just starts to blur together.
What I can't tell is whether it is fair for me to blame Woodward for the book being slow or whether that is just an accurate representation of the muddled situation that we were in? Maybe the endless discussions without any sense of progress is *necessary* to provide real sense for how things were going?
The book really sped up once it hits the midterm elections in 2006 and moves into the discussion of The Surge. The rest of the story was much more interesting and engaging (probably since it finally felt like something was happening).
Time will only tell how the story ends, but I have to say that I found myself questioning my own opinions about the merits of The Surge and wondering whether Petraeus and The Surge will go down as the fundamental turning point in the war.
What struck me the most from the book is how few characters come away looking good at all. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rice, and several of the major military leaders (up to, but not including Patraeus) come across as clueless, uninformed, or disengaged. The few characters that come across as rational are the Iraq Study Group (whose report was largely ignored), the Council of Colonels (whose months of work was never presented to any senior official), Colin Powell (who only plays a minor role in the book having already left the administration), and then, in the end, Petraeus.
For those looking to portray the Bush administration as evil or ideological, the book will probably leave you wanting. Instead, you walk away with an overwhelming sense of incompetence with a few bright spots.
Detailed Look into the Bush White House November 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book having not read any of the previous Bob Woodward books. The details that he is able to get from within the White House and what was going on behind closed doors is astounding.
I started getting frustrated with the book in the middle as sometimes I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over. This was more of a flaw in the way Bush handled the situation than a flaw in the book. The lack of progress and decision-making in Iraq is unbelievable, and is definitely shown through the book.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about how the war in Iraq was and is being handled.
Top Secrets Revealed November 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Have just begun reading the book but from page one it holds abundant previously secret information, well-documented as only a top notch reporter like Bob Woodward can do it!
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