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Gordon, Michael r., and bernard e. trainor. The endgame: The inside Story of the Struggle for iraq, from george w. Bush to Barack obama. New york: Pantheon, 2012. 800pp. $35
At the end of cobra ii: The inside Story of the invasion and occupation of iraq (2007), Michael gordon and bernard trainor concluded that americans and Iraqis had created an Iraq of "chaos, suffering, and a future that is still vexed." Six years later that vexed future is realized in their latest book, The endgame. thoroughly researched, this book leverages not only documentary sources but interviews with american and Iraqi leaders who shaped the post-saddam Iraq to give the most encompassing narrative to date of the U.s. occupation of Iraq. Nearly eight hundred pages in length, this is the best single-volume study of the american and Iraqi experiences in postinvasion Iraq from 2003 to the U.s. withdrawal in 2011. any future histories of the Iraqi war will have to acknowledge this comprehensive research and account.
After retracing some territory familiar from cobra ii, gordon and trainor present a detailed account of the american occupation and effort to create a new Iraq. What becomes clear...