{"product_id":"to-start-a-war-how-the-bush-administration-took-america-into-iraq-9780525561064","title":"To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Essential . . . one for the ages . . . a must read for all who care about presidential power.\" --The Washington Post \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Authoritative . . . The most comprehensive account yet of that smoldering wreck of foreign policy, one that haunts us today.\" --\u003ci\u003eLA Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of\u003ci\u003e BookPage\u003c\/i\u003e's Best Books of 2020 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Start a War\u003c\/i\u003e paints a vivid and indelible picture of a decision-making process that was fatally compromised by a combination of post-9\/11 fear and paranoia, rank naïveté, craven groupthink, and a set of actors with idées fixes who gamed the process relentlessly. Everything was believed; nothing was true. Robert Draper's fair-mindedness and deep understanding of the principal actors suffuse his account, as does a storytelling genius that is close to sorcery. There are no cheap shots here, which makes the ultimate conclusion all the more damning. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the spirit of Barbara W. Tuchman's \u003ci\u003eThe Guns of August \u003c\/i\u003eand Marc Bloch's \u003ci\u003eStrange Defeat\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTo Start A War\u003c\/i\u003e will stand as the definitive account of a collective scurrying for evidence that would prove to be not just dubious but entirely false--evidence that was then used to justify a verdict that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and a flood tide of chaos in the Middle East that shows no signs of ebbing.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRobert Draper is a writer at large for the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Magazine \u003c\/i\u003eand a contributing writer to \u003ci\u003eNational Geographic.\u003c\/i\u003e He is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller \u003ci\u003eDead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush.\u003c\/i\u003e He lives in Washington, DC.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50380655690002,"sku":"9780525561064","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1b8effe0-3ee4-4d41-b182-ac820a917ed4.jpg?v=1728685587","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/to-start-a-war-how-the-bush-administration-took-america-into-iraq-9780525561064","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}