Truth is the first casualty of war," said Napoleon - but then, he lived before TIME Magazine. Now TIME tells the true story of America at war � a story that encompasses not only the soldiers at the front, but also the armies of unsung men and women who prepare them for battle. Here, from World War II through Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War, is the story of war as it affects all Americans. You'll join TIME reporters at the front in the hedgerows of France, the rice paddies of Vietnam, the deserts of Kuwait. You'll join those fighting against a new kind of enemy: the faceless terrorists who have plunged us into a new kind of war. You'll meet indelible leaders, little remembered by today's Americans: "Bull" Halsey, Matthew Ridgeway, "Vinegar Joe" Stilweel. You'll trace war's galvanizing effect on the home front, from bond drives to victory gardens. Above all, you'll meet the G.I.s and "grunts," the chaplains and cooks, the surgeons and nurses who find their finest! hour � when America Goes to War.