Knowingo
The cover of War

War

Bob Woodward, 2024

See how Biden's team tried to deter and contain wars in Ukraine and the Middle East without sending U.S. troops, and weigh what that restraint achieved and where it failed.

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13 parts, about 29 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • An inside account of how a White House team handled the wars in Ukraine and Gaza without sending American troops
  • Lets you follow real decisions under uncertainty, from declassifying intelligence to weighing a nuclear threat
  • Built on deep background interviews, diaries and meeting notes, with the reporter's own judgment stated plainly

Who it is for

  • Readers who follow American foreign policy closely
  • Students of how intelligence shapes presidential decisions
  • People trying to understand the Ukraine and Gaza wars

What the summary covers

  1. A lost interview and January 61 min
  2. Watching Putin1 min
  3. Afghanistan1 min
  4. Warning, deterring, preparing4 min
  5. Invasion and resistance1 min
  6. A long war without U.S. troops2 min
  7. The nuclear scare2 min
  8. Trump's return and Ukraine's shortages2 min
  9. October 74 min
  10. Hostages, proxies and the day after3 min
  11. 2024: aid, the border and Gaza's cost2 min
  12. The election and fitness for office4 min
  13. The verdict2 min

Recommended by

  • Philip CaputoAuthor of A Rumor of War
    Junger makes us see the terror, monotony, misery, comradeship and lunatic excitement that have been elements of all wars since, say, the siege of Troy.
  • Dexter FilkinsWar correspondent, The New York Times
    Absorbing and original . . . Junger is aiming for more than just a boots-on-the-ground narrative of the travails of fighting men

About the author

  • Bob WoodwardInvestigative journalist and one of the lead Watergate reporters at The Washington Post
    • Born in Geneva, Illinois, on March 26, 1943
    • Studied history and English literature at Yale, B.A. 1965
    • Five years in the U.S. Navy, discharged as a lieutenant in 1970
    • Hired as a Washington Post reporter in September 1971
    • With Carl Bernstein, lead Watergate reporter; the Post won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
    • Main Post reporter on the September 11, 2001 attacks; the coverage won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting

Read it alongside

  • Goes deeperChokepoints

    Woodward describes Biden's team publishing intelligence and Burns warning Putin of crushing sanctions without changing his course; Fishman argues deterrence needs the target to grasp capability and willingness, and vague threats left Putin free to assume the coalition would be cautious.

  • Goes deeperNuclear War

    Woodward describes Biden's team putting the avoidance of direct conflict with Russia first and war gaming nuclear moves; Jacobsen's scenario and the Proud Prophet war game suggest that once nuclear weapons entered play, participants found no way back.

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