All the Presidents’ Wars: Twenty-Five Years of America’s War on Terror

The year 2026 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11, the most devastating attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. Within days, the United States began to declare its war on terror: ‘Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,’ President George W. Bush proclaimed. The resulting invasion of Afghanistan cost trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives, and led to a series of misguided wars and the damaged perception of American power.

Based on hundreds of interviews, All the Presidents’ Wars focuses on critical decisions of four successive presidents — Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump — that arose out of the country’s responses to 9/11. One of the few journalists to interview Osama bin Laden and to have unparalleled access to the US intelligence community, Peter Bergen covers a tragic history that might have been avoided.

All the Presidents’ Wars explores the innovations and unintended consequences of each presidency’s military and political decisions, including debates over military intervention and withdrawal, and the tactics of special operations units, armed drones, and the armies of counterterrorism partners. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand America’s devastating war on terror and to avoid the mistakes of the past.