Journalist Rick Atkinson chronicles his two months with the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army in the 2003 war in Iraq, covering such topics as guerrilla resistance, one soldier's violent attack on his comrades, and the leadership of Major General David H. Petraeus.

No war has ever had the intensive media coverage of the 2003 war in Iraq, and none has ever had such monumental second-guessing. Months before the war began, domestic and international pundits painted a gloomy picture of a new Vietnam or of a nuclear Armageddon that would see Israel reduced to ruins. The war started with a brilliant series of pre-emptive bangs that shattered Iraqi leadership and seized the most valuable areas of Iraq. How did the...

Draws on interviews with top officers in Iraq to document the war as it has unfolded in recent years, focusing on the unorthodox strategies of General David Petraeus, from his work with foreign advisors to the ways in which his officers disagreed with key decisions.