War
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4.4 • 287 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward delivers an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes narrative exploring the intricate dynamics of Ukraine, the Middle East, and the American presidency, offering unparalleled insights into political intrigue and global strategy from one of the most authoritative voices in political journalism today.
War is a “harrowing, riveting” (The New York Times) account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics in American history.
We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power ahead of the 2024 elections.
With unrivaled, inside-the-room reporting, Woodward shows President Biden’s approach to managing the war in Ukraine, the most significant land war in Europe since World War II, and his tortured path to contain the bloody Middle East conflict between Israel and the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Woodward reveals the extraordinary complexity and consequence of wartime back-channel diplomacy and decision-making to deter the use of nuclear weapons and a rapid slide into World War III.
The raw cage-fight of politics accelerates leading up to the presidential election in 2024, starting between President Biden and Trump, and ending with the unexpected elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.
War provides an unvarnished examination of the vice president as she tries to embrace the Biden legacy and policies while beginning to chart a path of her own as a presidential candidate.
Woodward’s reporting once again sets the standard for journalism at its most authoritative and illuminating.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his latest fly-on-the-wall presidential chronicle, Pulitzer winner Woodward (Peril) explores the efforts of Joe Biden and his administration to cope with foreign conflicts while a baleful Donald Trump waits in the wings. Opening with Biden's chaotic 2021 pullout from Afghanistan, Woodward moves on to what he depicts as a masterful handling of the war in Ukraine—he characterizes Biden as handing Putin a strategic defeat via an expanded NATO—and an account of the Gaza war centered on the administration's struggles with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who resisted Biden's demands to allow aid into Gaza and negotiate a ceasefire. Woodward paints Biden as a sharp, thoughtful, decisive commander-in-chief (he includes only a few somewhat discordant nods to Biden's obvious public mental decline). Donald Trump, meanwhile, is a disruptive presence in the book, with Woodward depicting him as a dishonest, erratic dupe of Putin. Working from extensive insider interviews, Woodward takes readers into the situation rooms and diplomatic dinners where policy is hashed out in an often emotional fashion ("He's a bad fucking guy!" raged Biden at Netanyahu's intransigence), relays vivid anecdotes deriding Trump's pomposity ("Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea," observes Sen. Lindsey Graham. "Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in"), and delivers several dramatic revelations, among them that Trump made illicit phone calls to Putin concerning Ukraine after leaving office. It's a captivating analysis of high-wire statesmanship.
Customer Reviews
Terrifying, but Great
Of course some folks will think this is biased. Regardless, listen to the things #45 says - he’s basic and very poorly spoken. You think as #47 he’ll advocate for American bravado, but he’s already backtracking on immigration, citing H-1B visas.
He’ll break promises as all politicians do. He will not carry the poor, nor will he do anything about ‘groceries’ (who uses that word?).
You all have fallen for this stupidity and it’ll take H-1B visa talent to turn it around.
Good luck.
Excellent Book
Mr. Woodward has an incredible ability to place the reader in rooms where the worlds most utmost leaders make decisions and have discussions of extreme consequence. The only downside of this book is that the conversations of nuclear weapons and war being shared with us in this book are generally to be believed as honest and truthful. Thank you Mr. Woodward for this incredible account of history, I look forward to your next book!
War
Well written, but missing a few things