McNamara at War is a new, 512-page biography of former U.S. defense secretary Robert S. McNamara, co-written by brothers Philip and William Taubman.
Drawing on newly uncovered private diaries, family letters (including warm correspondence with Jacqueline Kennedy), and policy memos, the authors reassess McNamara’s rise from Harvard Business School to Ford Motor Company and, ultimately, to his controversial stewardship of the Vietnam War—portraying a brilliant technocrat riven by guilt, loyalty, and hubris.