THE WAR WITHIN A Secret White House History 2006-2008

Adam Grupper's reportorial delivery suits the sense of history-in-the-making in the final volume of Bob Woodward's quartet on George W. Bush at war. This revealing account of the run up to the "surge" guides the listener from the back rooms of Washington to the battlegrounds of Iraq. Present as events unfolded, Woodward interviewed the players and had remarkable access. Possessing classified information, he reveals (the Iraqi prime minister's phone calls were tapped, for example) and conceals (details of Special Ops). Woodward shows the former commander in chief to be impatient, lacking in curiosity, and a leader who trusted his gut to a fault. Overall, Woodward manages to penetrate the Bush White House's thicket of conflicting opinions and strategies. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2009]