It might be a bit of hubris to offer up a review for this many books in one fell swoop. Indeed given the sheer volume of publications on the Iraq and Afghan conflicts, particularly in the last year, any type of comprehensive review becomes... well, fairly subjective by sheer necessity.

My list is no exception.

The books below were selected for a number of different reasons (in one case because the cover just looked so damn interesting). I don't pretend that they cover the complete gamut of available books on the subject, or that they cover the complete range of political viewpoints on the war. My selections were driven by a long-standing interest in history, politics, and current events; a belief in humanity, previous good experiences with several authors, recommendations from various sources and by following my nose and my instincts on what looked worth cracking open and spending my time. I've dumped out of this review almost as many books as are included within it, mainly because they didn't impress in content or in writing quality, or because the books selected did a better job of telling that particular story. You have to draw the line somewhere, or we'll be here all day.

I don't expect people to agree with me on either my selections or my opinion - hey, it's a book review. You buy your ticket, you take your ride.

The books selected for the review were deliberately selected to cover a range of topical areas - from the battlefields to the backrooms of the White House, to the slums of Baghdad. I've always been a believer that proponents of a black and white worldview were trying to sell me something...and I generally like to make up my own mind on most things (except when my wife makes up my mind for me...). Garnering a range of information sources is the best way to develop some level of understanding but I don't pretend that I can ever know the real story, just a reflection of it.

Generally the best place to start is at the beginning, so for a good background source I recommend reading Rick Atkinson's excellent account of the first Gulf War, Crusade (reviewed previously here). It's useful in providing some context for the events today and, despite the many people wanting to paint the current conflict as one uniquely and entirely driven by George W. Bush, there are a number of forces at work and none of them are either simplistic or operate in a vacuum.

For a unique and deeply fascinating look at the backdrop behind the decision to go to war in Iraq, Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack provides a terrific "fly-on-the-wall" look at the decision-making process within the Bush White House. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty but even with this in consideration a disturbing pattern seems evident within the decision-making process of the administration that lends credence to the questioning of some of the elements behind the decision to go to war, particularly in the swift manifestation of that decision in the wake of 9/11 and the deliberate effort to interpret sometimes flimsy evidence as a smoking gun.