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Overview
Kurt Eichenwald—New York Times bestselling author of Conspiracy of Fools and The Informant— recounts the first 500 days after 9/11 in a comprehensive, compelling page-turner as gripping as any thriller.
In 500 Days, master chronicler Kurt Eichenwald lays bare the harrowing decisions, deceptions, and delusions of the eighteen months that changed the world forever, as leaders raced to protect their citizens in the wake of 9/11.
Eichenwald’s gripping, immediate style and trueto- life dialogue puts readers at the heart of these historic events, from the Oval Office to Number 10 Downing Street, from Guantanamo Bay to the depths of CIA headquarters, from the al-Qaeda training camps to the torture chambers of Egypt and Syria. He reveals previously undisclosed information from the terror wars, including never before reported details about warrantless wiretapping, the anthrax attacks and investigations, and conflicts between Washington and London.
With his signature fast-paced narrative style, Eichenwald— whose book, The Informant, was called “one of the best nonfiction books of the decade” by The New York Times Book Review—exposes a world of secrets and lies that has remained hidden for far too long.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Being a resident of lower Manhattan, I didn't need to be convinced that a book on the first 500 days after September 11th would hold my attention. Nevertheless, I wasn't quite prepared for the depth or breadth of Kurt Eichenwald's panoramic narrative. Like a highly skilled film editor, he moves from vignette to vignette, one moment capturing the tumultuous debates at the White House or the Justice Department; the next zeroing in on bin Laden in his lair or on an innocent Canadian engineer caught up in the frantic hunt for suspects. Eichenwald is no muckraker or Bush administration apologist: His detailed, evenhanded account shows decisions made at breakneck speed, sometimes with very bad information or extremely mistaken assumptions. Despite the complexity of the story, 500 Days keeps throttling forward. More than once while reading it at night, I thought, "Just one more chapter won't hurt me." —R.J. Wilson, Bookseller, #1002, New York NY
Vanity Fair
“An epic narrative....It may be his best book yet.”Washington Post
“Eichenwald is a master at making complicated stories easily understood....[500 Days is] a page-turner because of his journalistic attention to detail. Readers get fly-on-the-wall accounts as Bush administration officials weigh life-and-death decisions.”Dallas Morning News
“Thorough reporting and crisp writing . . . Moves at the pace of a movie-ready thriller.”Parade magazine
“Illuminating and entertaining throughout.”New York Times Book Review
“An ambitious undertaking and a valuable resource. . . . [Eichenwald] brings home the fundamental rashness and recklessness of the American response to the Sept. 11 attack.”Asbury Park Press and Home News Tribune (NJ)
“Who really made the decision to go to war in Iraq, and how grounded in fact were the "facts" fed to the American public? The author gives us not a seat at the table but an awfully good listening post to the decisions that changed the world.”Booklist
“With the pacing of a suspense novel, award-winning journalist Eichenwald’s richly researched account … [is] a breathtaking inspection of the war on terror that began on 9/11 and reverberates to this day.”PARADE magazine
“Illuminating and entertaining throughout.”Booklist (starred review)
“With the pacing of a suspense novel, award-winning journalist Eichenwald’s richly researched account … [is] a breathtaking inspection of the war on terror that began on 9/11 and reverberates to this day.”The Washington Post
Kurt Eichenwald is a master at making complicated stories easily understood…500 Days is premised on the idea that nearly every aspect of Bush's war on terror…grew out of decisions made in the first 500 days after the 2001 attacks. Eichenwald meticulously dissects nearly every one. Although much of what he covers is familiar ground, he has managed to produce a page-turner because of his journalistic attention to detail. Readers get fly-on-the-wall accounts as Bush administration officials weigh life-and-death decisions.—Dina Temple-Raston
The New York Times Book Review
…[500 Days is] best and most informative when depicting how the Bush administration, and especially its lawyers, suffered a protracted nervous breakdown during that time. In that respect, it is an ambitious undertaking and a valuable resource.—Thomas E. Ricks