The history of the 20th century indicates that the US is moving toward a system of war powers in which the president does whatever he (so far) wants, and neither the legislative nor the judicial branch can do diddly squat about it. Weinberger (politics and government, U. of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington) finds a few problems with that system, which he rehearses people who do not. His main concern however is with mechanisms and criteria for establishing a theory and a functioning system to rebalance war powers among the branches of government. He examines the meaning of the declare war clause, the deployment of the armed forces and initiation of hostilities, domestic warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency, and the detention and trials of suspected terrorists. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)