NBC News's Middle East Bureau Chief, Richard Engel is the only American television reporter to cover the country continuously before, during, and after the 2003 U.S. invasion. Fluent in Arabic, he has had unrivaled access to U.S. military commanders, Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias, Iraqi families, and even President George W. Bush. He has witnessed nearly every major milestone in the war. In vivid, sometimes painful detail, Engel tracks the successes and setbacks of the war. This book is the story of the transformation of a young journalist who moved to the Middle East with the belief that the region would be "the story" of his generation into a seasoned reporter who has at times believed that he would die covering the war. It is about American soldiers, ordinary Iraqis, and especially a few brave individuals on his team who continually risked their lives to make his own daring reporting possible.--From publisher description.