Adopting a largely uncritical and almost gossipy tone, Washington Post editor Woodward offers a "behind-the-scenes" narrative of the beginnings of George W. Bush's war making in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Woodward does appear to have been granted unprecedented access to what many consider to be the most secretive administration in American history, but that might leave one wondering how much the author was being managed by his subjects, Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Tenet. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)