A Woman at War

By circumventing the Pentagon's restrictive media-pool system, Moore became the only American reporter to get a sustained close-up view of ground operations throughout the Gulf War. Senior military correspondent for the Washington Post at the time, she had the good fortune to observe the campaign with the cooperation of Lt. Gen. Walter Boomer, commander of the Marine expeditionary force, who made her privy to inner-council deliberations and provided access to his troops in the field. The resulting report is by far the most vivid and informative account to date of the 100-hour ground war. Her respect for Boomer and his Marines is evident. She portrays theater commander Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, however, as a tyrannical blowhard who misled the U.S. public with his press-conference assurances that the Gulf War was perfectly planned, perfectly executed and virtually bloodless. Moore's book contains some of the finest war reporting of the past half-century. She is currently New Delhi bureau chief of the Washington Post. (July)