The first and only insider account exploring how the US tried - and failed - to combat the global rise of disinformation that eventually spilled into the 2016 election.

Publisher Synopsis

Mandela's Way is an electrically exciting, direct and vivid way of making greatness tangible, human and complex. Richard Stengel has honed all the elegance and lucidity of thirty years of brilliant cultural and political writing into a book to illuminate, to inspire-and to endure. -- Pico Iyer on MANDELA'S WAY There is no man I admire more than Nelson Mandela. Rick Sten gel's wise and moving book captures the Nelson Mandela I have been privileged to know. But reading Mandela's Way gave me new insights and inspiration. -- President Bill Clinton on MANDELA'S WAY With the eye of a historian and the passion of a man in the arena, Richard Stengel has given us a compelling and illuminating memoir of his time at the highest levels in the fight against disinformation and for American values. Richly observed and thoughtfully rendered, Stengel's book is essential reading. -- Jon Meacham, author of THE SOUL OF AMERICA With colorful behind-the-scenes stories and razor-sharp insights, Stengel provides the first insider report from the front lines of the disinformation wars waged by Russia and ISIS. At the heart of the struggle was the way the internet allowed people to weaponize grievances, as Donald Trump did in his campaign. Countering this trend is the most crucial challenge for our democracy and free society. Stengel shows how we've failed and what we can do in the future -- Walter Isaacson Information Wars ought to be a wake-up call. The message is that open, democratic societies are in retreat. There's only one force powerful enough to save the day (one too little mentioned these days), and that's the readers and viewers who consume information. -- David Ignatius * Washington Post * A gripping insider account of the U.S. government's struggle to understand and fight back against a new generation of online threats from extremist messaging and Russian disinformation. As a celebrated journalist who moved into the frontlines of this fight, Richard Stengel sheds new light on how bad actors leverage technology to undermine trust, and helps us better understand what must be done to protect our democracy. -- Madeleine K. Albright

0: Introduction
1: Welcome to State
2: Getting There
3: The Job
4: Information War
5: The Battle Is Engaged
6: Disruption
7: What to Do About Disinformation
8: Postscript
9: Acknowledgments
10: Notes
11: Index

From former TIME editor and Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel, <i>Information War</i> is the first and only insider account exploring how the U.S. tried -- and failed -- to combat the global rise of disinformation that eventually spilled into the 2016 election