A Time of Our Choosing
America's War in Iraq
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The authoritative account of America's most controversial war since Vietnam, a conflict in which "shock and awe" were not confined to the battlefield
It was a war like no other the United States had ever fought. It began with the bombing of Saddam Hussein's bunker and ended with statues of the Iraqi dictator being toppled in downtown Baghdad, and it marked a turning point in America's relations with its enemies, its allies, and its sense of itself. Yet most Americans experienced the war as impressionistic and often confusing—the story of one battle here, one unit there, a report from one city, then another, without the larger context we so urgently needed. Each reporter had his "slice" of the war, it seemed, but no one had the whole story or the broad view.
A Time of Our Choosing fills that gap brilliantly, drawing on the unparalleled resources and reportage of The New York Times. Todd S. Purdum, one of the paper's most gifted storytellers, traces the war in Iraq from the first rumblings after 9/11, to the diplomatic recriminations at the United Nations, to the battles themselves and their aftermath. He deftly rolls out the whole canvas before our eyes, showing how the individual "slices" fit together into a single, gripping drama.
Purdum also explores the complex legacy of America's near-unilateral action. Since the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush has vowed that the United States would confront its enemies "at a time of our choosing," and Purdum shows in vivid terms what this choice has meant for our now transformed world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Not since Vietnam have journalists played a more important role in an engagement of arms than in the most recent war in Iraq. So even as soldiers and Iraqis continue to die in the uneasy aftermath, we have this surprisingly cogent and balanced narrative based on a wide range of national and international reporting and analysis, embedded or otherwise, by New York Times reporters. Veteran Times correspondent Purdum, synthesizing the work of numerous colleagues, ably documents the clash of combatants, the political machinations that preceded the stunning victory and the sobering human and material costs, all in the fast-moving, accessible style of a thoughtful techno-thriller. Alternating smoothly among far-flung military units, Washington, European capitals, the streets of Baghdad and America's front porches, Purdum provides far more detail and perspective than anyone could have absorbed at the time from their newspapers and televisions. Most memorable are the many stories of individual soldiers and civilians in extremis and in their own words, but the book's greatest contribution is showing how ideas beget policies that lead to war, in this case the ideas and policy known as the Bush Doctrine, best captured by an army colonel, echoing Bush's own words, after the first ground raid into Baghdad: "This shows we can go anywhere... at a time of our choosing." With the fates of Saddam, bin Laden and the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan still uncertain, Purdum wrapped this compelling work in August, but not before asking tough questions about what "victory" means. 23 photos, 8 maps not seen by PW.
