500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars

Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2012: Initially, Eichenwald (The Informant) planned to write a post-9/11 analysis of the second Bush presidency, until he realized that most of the events that set the stage for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the War on Terror--the "decisions, deceptions, and delusions"--happened in the first 18 months after the attacks. This fast-paced narrative of those 553 days takes readers inside CIA headquarters, 10 Downing Street, al-Qaeda training camps, Egyptian torture chambers, and secret prisons. Deeply researched but written like an international spy thriller, Eichenwald's book shows how decisions prompted by fear, hatred, and paranoia created a post-9/11 history "shaped by the experiences of the powerless." --Neal Thompson