Today is the publication date of World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz. As he states in his acknowledgements, the book updates, adapts, reworks, and integrates several of his Commentary essays into new material. I am a long-time admirer of his work and accordingly invited him to explain what he is up to in his new book. He kindly responded:

There have been dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of books about the many issues aroused by 9/11 and George W. Bush’s response to it. But World War IV differs from them all in two major respects. For one thing, it is -- at least so far as I know -- the first serious attempt to set 9/11 itself, the campaigns that have followed it in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the war of ideas it has provoked at home, into the context of the role the United States has played in the world since 1941. Seen in this light, the struggle against the forces of Islamofascism into which 9/11 plunged us reveals itself as the direct successor to the wars against the totalitarian challenges to our civilization posed by Nazism in World War II and Communism in World War III (as the cold war becomes in this scheme of things). Secondly, against critics both on the Left and the Right, World War IV offers what is probably the most full-throated statement yet published of the case for the Bush Doctrine, whose effort to make the Middle East safe for America by making it safe for democracy represents the only viable strategy for fighting and winning World War IV.

I think it's fair to say that the emphasis on the book is on "the war of ideas [9/11] has provoked at home." Podhoretz powerfully invokes autobiographical episodes and reflections to illuminate his support of the Bush Doctrine. These aspects of the book are on display in Wall Street Journal column excerpted from the book. In the column he concludes:

It is impossible at this point to predict how and when the battle of Iraq will end. But from the vitriolic debates it has unleashed we can already say for certain that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did not do to the Vietnam syndrome what Pearl Harbor did to the old isolationism. The Vietnam syndrome is back and it means to have its way. But is it strong enough in its present incarnation to do what it did to the honor of this country in 1975? Well acquainted though I am with its malignant power, I still believe that it will ultimately be overcome by the forces opposed to it in the war at home. Even so, I cannot deny that this question still hangs ominously in the air and will not be answered before more damage is done to the long struggle against Islamofascism into which we were blasted six years ago and that I persist in calling World War IV.

Roger L. Simon reflects fairly on the book today. I hope interested readers will check out the book for themselves.

UPDATE: Contentions has posted an interview with Podhoretz here.