War
Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, £25

THIS is a fascinating, though rather frightening book from former Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. The fright value has markedly increased since the publication of the book and the election of Donald Trump to serve a second term as US president.

An Establishment journalist, Woodward had a ring-side seat in the Biden White House as it sought to navigate a path through Russia’s war in Ukraine, and then the hostilities in the Middle East following the October 7 attacks in Israel. Interestingly, most sections on what is going on in the White House are then followed by Trump’s take on the situation.

Biden is shown to be a fairly astute operator, born of a long career at the top of US politics. He is determined not to be pushed around by his own military chiefs, seeing how predecessors in the Oval Office have been to ill-effect. Most notable in this respect was president Barack Obama’s decision in 2011 to send another 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, at the behest of the military.