The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008

Bob Woodward once again pulls back the curtain on Washington to reveal  the inner workings of a government at war in his fourth book on  President George W. Bush.

The War Within provides an exhaustive  account of the struggles of General David Petraeus, who takes over in  Iraq during one of the bleakest and most violent periods of the war. It  reveals how breakthroughs in military operations and surveillance  account for much of the progress as violence in Iraq plummeted in the  middle of 2007.

Woodward interviewed key players, obtained dozens  of never-before-published documents, and had nearly three hours of  exclusive interviews with President Bush. The result is a stunning,  firsthand history of the years from mid-2006, when the White House  realizes the Iraq strategy is not working, through the decision to surge  another 30,000 U.S. troops in 2007, and into mid-2008, when the war  becomes a fault line in the presidential election.

The War Within  addresses head-on questions of leadership, not just in war but in how  we are governed and the dangers of unwarranted secrecy.