Obama's Wars

By: Bob Woodward

Narrated by: Boyd Gaines

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Working behind the scenes for 18 months, Bob Woodward has written the most intimate and sweeping portrait of President Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes, and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward offers an original, you-are-there account of Obama and his team in this time of turmoil and uncertainty.

©2010 Simon and Schuster Audio; 2010 Bob Woodward

great service to the country

I'm an Army Chaplain, combat veteran, and just finished this book. I feel like I've been through a fourteen hour staff meeting. I agree that there are some mistakes in the performance, though few. I agree with other reviewers that there is a redundancy, but I am grateful for this. That's how staff meetings should be. The process of forming a strategy for the war must be messy, conflicted, and emotional. The fact that Woodward reflects this in his writing only reflects the difficulties inherent in making decisions at this level. Great job, though the listener will require patience. It's not a novel. It's the messy, real, candid view of who makes decisions and the process by which those decisions are made. Thank you, Mr. Woodward. And thank you, Mr. Obama, for taking the time to listen to each side and angle before making the tough decision.

Interestingly Repetitive

This book provides a different view of Obama's intellectual abilities to deal with those who underestimate his. mind power

Great book

Great read on how President Obama decide on War strategy, incredible access to the decision makers.

Fascinating and Extremely well-researched

Phenomenal book. Builds off of Woodward's previous book, State of Denial, which similarly investigated military/civilian decision making with the Iraq and Afghan wars, including some of the same figures.

A look inside

'Obama's' Wars' is a continuation of the four books Woodward has already written on the Middle Eastern wars since Sept 11. Once again Woodward is able to get a whole lot of, inside information about the strategies and tactics our leaders are using.
The main facts learned are 1) Obama came in as president looking for a more efficient way to prosecute the Afgan war 2) Two basic strategies emerged a) Biden's small footprint strategy of going after high value targets (a continuation of what was Bush's war strategy only with an increased emphases on Afgan now that Iraq was winding down) b) The Petraeus counter-insurgency plan that had shown some success in Iraq. 3) Obama wanted some middle ground between these strategies because he saw how Bush's strategy was largely unsuccessful and with Al Qaeda now in Pakistan a larger presence in Afghanistan was needed. However, Obama did not think that a full grown insurgency could work because of the differences in culture and landscape in Afgan and the fact that our enemy (Al Qaeda was not in Afghan.) ment that even if we killed every single Taliban (many of whom arent against us) we would not have killed one Al Qaeda (our real enemy). 4) The military brass (largely left over from Bush) did not care about these facts, insisted on doing its own thing, ignored the Commander and Chief and publicly made disparaging remarks about their president. Finally they coordinated with Republican strategists to get their way despite the constitution that they made an oath to defend. 5) This forced Obama to create a new middle ground strategy that is in our national interest.
It is almost amazing the degree of information that he is able to get. Listening to the book, I couldn't keep from wondering why people were still talking with Woodward. I think many of them are trying to shape the narrative, but the fact that Woodward talks to so many people and gets so many points of view prevents any one persons attempt to create a history of their liking

Seems like the real deal

I have no idea what really goes on behind closed doors and neither do the rest of us but I think Woodward creates a believable piece of work here.
He makes you feel like you are there watching the whole thing happen. Being president is not, in my opinion, an enviable position. Choices between bad and worse, having to deal with lots of people with big egos motivated by self interest.
It's easy to see why he already has grey hair. The guy makes it 8 years he's going to look like Morgan Freeman.

great read

provides great perspective on behind the scenes processes and dealings. very descriptive and informative. captivating to listen to.

If you need to read this stuff.

This book was long and depressing. As long and as depressing and as complicated as humans and war (and one multiplied by the other). I listened until the end of the book just to test my own stamina. Woodward is dedicated to his craft enough to report this years long, boring, depressing government policy and strategy debates. Obama comes out shining, and you understand how busy this war kept him. This is not a book, it’s a workout.

A Very Intriguing Look Into A Misunderstood War

As with all Woodward books, this continues in the same mold. He gives an unprecedented view into a very secretive and highly classified process, even if it is after the fact. My viewpoint on Afghanistan has slightly changed as a result of listening to this audio book. While I vehemently oppose the war to this day, Woodward has explained the reason for it continuing and why we must succeed; he does this in an elaborately detailed web of compendious sources that make up the bigger picture.
As far as the narrator goes, Gaines is a genius! He has a specifically distinct tone and demeanor for the myriad of characters here. It's almost as if when Karzai is speaking, it's him and not Gaines I'm hearing. Gaines is extremely effective in this regard, and as a result, enhances Woodward's account.

An intriguing look under the hood!

I expected a book with a strong liberal bias, but found a history with little apparent bias given the currency of the topic. It should be required reading for all Americans.