The world first learned ofBlackwater USA in March2004 when several of its menwere ambushed and killed inFallujah, Iraq. Their bodieswere badly beaten, and twowere then hung from a bridge as a sign ofIraqi resistance to the U.S. occupation. Inthe years that followed, Blackwater grew tobecome one of the U.S. government's mosttrusted partners in Iraq and Afghanistan,despite headline-grabbing controversiessuch as the shooting of Iraqi civilians byBlackwater guards in a Baghdad trafficcircle in 2007.

Based on her extraordinary access toBlackwater founder Erik Prince and dozensof his key executives, author SuzanneSimons offers a riveting, eye-openingportrait of the former Navy SEAL andthe company that became the face ofprivate warfare in the twenty-first century.Prince sat atop an empire that not onlyincluded a massive training complex formilitary and law enforcement but alsocomprised an entire aviation division thatcatered to military needs in the world'smost dangerous locations and a privatespy company run by former top CIA men.Master of War is an intimate look at the riseand fall of an extraordinary company-ledby a contemporary prince, unaccountableto American voters, with the instrumentsof war at his disposal.