Follett and Woodward Books Here Now

Two other big books go on sale today, one a historical novel and one an examination of Obama's decision making regarding the war in Afghanistan, the campaign in Pakistan, and the world-wide fight against terrorism.

Obama's War, by journalist Bob Woodward, draws on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes, and hundreds of hours of interviews with key players (mostly men, of course) to tell the story of how Obama and his administration tackled critical decisions on the war. Secret debates, White House strategy sessions, and firsthand accounts of the thoughts and concerns of the president help to paint an intimate and sweeping portrait of the young president as commander in chief.

Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett, is the first book of The Century Trilogy. In his magnificent new historical epic (and I emphasize the word epic -- this first volume is close to a thousand pages), Follett (author of World Without End and The Pillars of the Earth) follows the fates of five interrelated families -- American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh -- as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. Future volumes in the trilogy will follow subsequent generations of the same families as they travel through the great events of the rest of the twentieth centruy.