I almost always like Sheinkin's writing anyway, but this particular book was just fascinating. It's compelling writing about a window of American history that's incredibly useful to get a refresher on in today's political/world climate. I know I've studied this time period in history classes, and if someone had asked me what I knew about the Pentagon Papers or Watergate or Vietnam before reading this I think I could have answered somewhat intelligently. But I learned so much about the details, the build-up, the sheer content of the papers and the mindset of the top people in the country at the time, I feel leaps and bounds more informed now. It also stunned me how similar much of what Sheinkin writes about feels to current events, and I particularly appreciated the short bit at the end about Snowden.

Basically, I never would have guessed the book I wouldn't be able to put down over the holidays would be about the history of the Vietnam War or whatever, but it's SO GOOD. I hope it gets picked up by schools, because I remember reading Chickenhawk and learning about the soldiers' experiences, but if we did learn about the political decisions that led to the war I definitely don't remember that part. We probably learned something about it, I assume, but I suspect it wasn't as compelling as the soldiers' stories. Which is why this book might be a great option for teens, because it makes the politics, dry-dull-as-dust-politics, interesting in a very accessible way.