Synopses & Reviews
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellmans newsbreaking investigative journalism documents how Vice President Dick Cheney redefined the role of the American vice presidency, assuming unprecedented responsibilities and making it a post of historic power.
Dick Cheney changed history, defining his times and shaping a White House as no vice president has before yet concealing most of his work from public view. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how Cheney operated, why, and what he wrought.
Angler, Gellmans embargoed and highly explosive book, is a work of careful, concrete, and original reporting backed by hundreds of interviews with close Cheney allies as well as rivals, many speaking candidly on the record for the first time. On the signature issues of war and peace, Angler takes readers behind the scenes as Cheney maneuvers for dominance on what he calls the iron issues from Iraq, Iran, and North Korea to executive supremacy, interrogation of Al Qaeda suspects, and domestic espionage. Gellman explores the behind-the- scenes story of Cheneys tremendous influence on foreign policy, exposing how he misled the four ranking members of Congress with faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, how he derailed Bush from venturing into Israeli- Palestinian peace talks for nearly five years, and how his policy left North Korea and Iran free to make major advances in their nuclear programs.
Domestically, Gellman details Cheneys role as super Chief of Staff , enforcer of conservative orthodoxy; gatekeeper of Supreme Court nominees; referee of Cabinet turf; editor of tax and budget laws; and regulator in chief of the administrations environment policy. We watch as Cheney, the ultimate Washington insider, leverages his influence within the Bush administration in order to implement his policy goals. Gellmans discoveries will surprise even the most astute students of political science.
Above all, Angler is a study of the inner workings of the Bush administration and the vice presidents central role as the administrations canniest power player. Gellman exposes the mechanics of Cheneys largely successful post-September 11 campaign to win unchecked power for the commander in chief, and reflects upon, and perhaps changes, the legacy that Cheneyand the Bush administration as a wholewill leave as they exit office.
Review
"a forceful new study ... connecting the dots to give the reader a visceral understanding of just how Mr. Cheney maneuvered...."
Michiko Kakutani in the NYT
"engrossing and informative ... the most penetrating portrait of him yet"
Jacob Heilbrunn in the NYT Book Review
"this new and brilliantly researched account
went where Woodward was unable or uninterested in going.... an indispensable volume without which the Bush presidency cant be understood."
Steve Clemons in the American Conservative
"Until now I assumed it would take decades ... for an author (say, some future Robert Caro) to uncover and describe Cheney's secretive role."
James Mann in the WP
"It's unbelievable. I mean, get this. Just spend one night reading it by the fire, and see if you can sleep again." Jon Stewart on the Daily Show
"a remarkable tale extremely well told."
Clive Crook in the FT
"a mesmerizing guided tour"
Tom Carson (Esquire critic)
Review
"[A] triumph of reporting on a figure who, in a public life that reaches back some forty years, has demonstrated unparalleled skills at remaining unknown and unknowable....Gellman's book may well be the fullest account we will ever get of its subject." Sam Tanenhaus, The New Republic (Read the entire )
Synopsis
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gellman documents how Vice President Dick Cheney redefined the role of the American vice presidency, assuming unprecedented responsibilities and making it a post of historic power.
Synopsis
The landmark exposé of the most powerful and secretive vice president in American history Barton Gellman shared the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for a keen-edged reckoning with Dick Cheney?s domestic agenda in The Washington Post. In Angler, Gellman goes far beyond that series to take on the full scope of Cheney?s work and its consequences, including his hidden role in the Bush administration?s most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting ?cruel and inhumane? methods of interrogation. Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.
Synopsis
The landmark exposand#233; of the most powerful and secretive vice president in American history Barton Gellman shared the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for a keen-edged reckoning with Dick Cheney?s domestic agenda in The Washington Post. In Angler, Gellman goes far beyond that series to take on the full scope of Cheney?s work and its consequences, including his hidden role in the Bush administration?s most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting ?cruel and inhumane? methods of interrogation. Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.
About the Author
Barton Gellman is a special projects reporter at The Washington Post, following tours that covered diplomacy, the Middle East, the Pentagon, and the D.C. superior court. His Cheney series, with partner Jo Becker, won a 2008 Pulitzer Prize, a George Polk Award, and the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Gellman also shared a Pulitzer for national reporting in 2002, and his work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Gellman graduated with highest honors from Princeton University and earned a master’s degree in politics at University College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He is the author of Contending with Kennan: Toward a Philosophy of American Power. Gellman lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
Anger
Chapter One. A Very Short List
Chapter Two. A Different Understanding
Chapter Three. Pivot Points
Chapter Four. Energy in the Executive
Chapter Five. Very Hard and Very Quick
Chapter Six. Enemies, Foreign and Domestic
Chapter Seven. Dark Side
Chapter Eight. Matching the Science
Chapter Nine. Demonstration Effect
Chapter Ten. Supply Side
Chapter Eleven. Off the Tracks
Chapter Twelve. U-turn on Constitution Avenue
Chapter Thirteen. Nemesis
Chapter Fourteen. Regime Change
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index