Battle of the books?

Have you ever heard the expression 'you learn from your mistakes?' As it turns out, the oval office is actually making an attempt to understand the war in Afghanistan by looking at the war's of the past. This is where are two contenders come in. Up first is the heavy-hitting, troop-increasing book "Lessons in Disaster" and the other is the more passive, bow-out-while-we-can book entitled "A Better War." According to the article Behind Afghan War Debate, a Battle of Two Books Rages by Peter Spiegel and Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal, these two books have been circulating around the White House faster than H1N1 can infect a campus and for good reason. President Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of his political career; his reputation and integrity are now under the most intense scrutiny. It is amazing to think that the information within two relatively unknown books could possibly change the course of history.

Spiegel and Weisman exposed a side to politics that is rarely seen. Everybody hears about the big political decisions that our nation's leaders make, but it is always after they have set it in stone. This article is refreshing because it grants us a brief glimpse into the thought process behind the big decisions. Spiegel and Weisman had excellent inverse-pyramid structure; within the first three paragraphs I was given a very clear summation of the importance of these two books and their general content. Spiegel and Weisman did not include the names of the books as early on as I would have thought, but I don't see this as a fault. Only the most prominent facts were mentioned and although the titles of the books are important, they are not nearly as important as their content or their effect on capitol hill.