Puzzle Palace

The Pentagon is more than building, symbol or icon; from almost the first moment of its construction it became one of the world’s most critical power centers.

From its location at a former crossroads area not far from the western shore of the Potomac River, the Pentagon stood as a central organizing principle behind the deployment of U.S. and allied forces in every theater of war.

Its staff was involved in every detail of the procurement, planning and mobilization process in virtually every major military engagement ranging from the jungles of Burma, where Stilwell was engaged against Japanese forces to build the Burma road, to the beachheads of Anzio, Normandy and Tripoli, where U.S., British and other allied troops were landing in massive numbers in the first modern amphibious assaults.

Throughout the Cold War, during the First Gulf War, in Yugoslavia, in the War in Iraq and in the Global War on Terrorism, the Pentagon has continued to play a prominent role.

Puzzle Palace tells the story of the Pentagon from its beginnings in the years between the two World Wars to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 in panoramic prose that combines virtuoso writing with sure-handed scholarship and penetrating insights.