BUSH AT WAR

"The decision to go to war defines a nation to the world--and perhaps more importantly--to itself," reads Woodward stiffly from his preface. It's a relief, therefore, when James Naughton takes the microphone and the tangle of current events becomes a clear and absorbing narrative. Naughton's deep voice has just the right gritty edge. You can almost hear tank treads on stone. There are boxes of cash and another box with dry ice for Bin Laden's head. "I'm not a textbook player," Bush says. "I'm a gut player." Nobody knows yet how the war on terror will end, but Woodward shows you how it started. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]