WAR BY Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward Paperback

“The decision to go to war is one that defines a nation, both to the world and perhaps more importantly to itself. There is no more serious business for a national government, no more accurate measure of national leadership.”“War” by Bob Woodward is an engrossing behind-the-scenes read of former President Biden’s tenure, marked by erupting wars in the world. Ukraine and Israel.The book portrays tense and nerve-racking moments of the country’s president and his team engaging in inside-the-room diplomacies and decision-making conversations relating to troubles erupting in the Middle East and Ukraine. The author delves into the thought process and strategies of former President Biden and his team in tackling Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.All the chapters of the book are strictly divided to reflect opinions or events. The chapters are, therefore, short, and the book makes for an easy read despite the intense topic it covers.The book is gripping. It is always fascinating to read behind-the-scenes of important political moments taking place….the trigger points, the frustrations, and the steely determinations. Biden’s firm resolve not to send troops to Ukraine. Benjamin Netanyahu, who was determined to annihilate Gaza despite claims to the contrary to the US president. President Putin’s plan to invade Ukraine while denying the same. Volodymyr Zelensky’s state of denial in accepting and acknowledging the US intelligence presenting an imminent Ukraine invasion. President Biden’s growing frustration with Benjamin Netanyahu. German Chancellor’s hesitation to lend Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine over fears of images of German tanks moving over Europe as in WWII. The past always haunts.Politics makes for strange bedfellow relationships and adjustments… while despising Netanyahu’s inhumane attack on the Gaza population, Biden continued to provide billions of aid in fear of the larger picture of Middle East.But the real gritting moments are in Chapter 35 when nuclear weapons use by Russia seems a possibility and the hectic efforts to thwart it off. These pages read like a spy novel, and Bob Woodward succeeds in pening the harrowing moments when disaster seemed imminent.The author claims that all the interviews of the book were conducted under the journalistic ground rule of ‘deep background.’ This means that all information could be used, but he would be unable to say who provided it. So, one has to trust the memory of interviewees to provide exact quotes and words of the moment.Joe Biden (President at the time of publication) and Donald Trump (Former President at the time of publication) declined to be interviewed for this book.