Days of Fire
Bush and Cheney in the White House
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Narrated by:
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Mark Deakins
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By:
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Peter Baker
About this listen
In Days of Fire, Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times, takes us on a gripping and intimate journey through the eight years of the Bush and Cheney administration in a tour-de-force narrative of a dramatic and controversial presidency.
Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before. He brings to life with in-the-room immediacy all the drama of an era marked by devastating terror attacks, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and financial collapse.
The real story of Bush and Cheney is a far more fascinating tale than the familiar suspicion that Cheney was the power behind the throne. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with key players, and thousands of pages of never-released notes, memos, and other internal documents, Baker paints a riveting portrait of a partnership that evolved dramatically over time, from the early days when Bush leaned on Cheney, making him the most influential vice president in history, to their final hours, when the two had grown so far apart they were clashing in the West Wing. Together and separately, they were tested as no other president and vice president have been, first on a bright September morning, an unforgettable "day of fire" just months into the presidency, and on countless days of fire over the course of eight tumultuous years.
Days of Fire is a monumental and definitive work that will rank with the best of presidential histories. As absorbing as a thriller, it is eye-opening and essential listening.
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Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors - including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave - Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller and offers a gripping day-by-day account of what really happened behind the scenes in Downing Street, both Leave campaigns, the Labour Party, Ukip and Britain Stronger in Europe.
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blow by blow, word by word
- By Christian R. Unger on 11-22-18
By: Tim Shipman
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Known and Unknown
- A Memoir
- By: Donald Rumsfeld
- Narrated by: Donald Rumsfeld
- Length: 30 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A powerful memoir from the late former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. With the same directness that defined his career in public service, Rumsfeld's memoir is filled with previously undisclosed details and insights about the Bush administration, 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also features Rumsfeld's unique and often surprising observations on eight decades of history. Both a fascinating narrative and an unprecedented glimpse into history, Known and Unknown captures the legacy of one of the most influential men in public service.
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Inside view of five decades in politics
- By Brooks on 02-19-11
By: Donald Rumsfeld
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Three Days in January
- Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier, Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this debut history from one of America's most influential political journalists, Bret Baier casts the three days between Dwight Eisenhower's prophetic "farewell address" on the evening of January 17, 1961, and his successor John F. Kennedy's inauguration on the afternoon of January 20 as the final mission of one of modern America's greatest leaders.
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Gently In Manner, Strongly In Deed...
- By Gillian on 01-20-17
By: Bret Baier, and others
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Reagan at Reykjavik
- Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War
- By: Ken Adelman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A dramatic account of the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Iceland - the turning point in the Cold War - by Ken Adelman, Reagan's arms control director and a key player in that weekend's world-changing events. In October 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for a forty-eight-hour summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Planned as a short gathering to outline future talks, the meeting quickly turned to major international issues, including SDI ("Star Wars") and the possibility of eliminating all nuclear weapons.
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Outstanding Tribute
- By MOV on 11-17-23
By: Ken Adelman
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The Netanyahu Years
- Translated by Ora Cummings
- By: Ben Caspit
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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A portrait of the current Israeli prime minister, one of Israel's more noticeable leaders in recent decades. Benjamin Netanyahu is currently serving his fourth term in office as prime minister of Israel, the longest serving prime minister in the country's history. Now Israeli journalist Ben Caspit puts Netanyahu's life under a magnifying glass, focusing on his last two terms in office.
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weak
- By kay on 06-11-18
By: Ben Caspit
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Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
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Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
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The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
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The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
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The Pentagon's Wars
- The Military's Undeclared War Against America's Presidents
- By: Mark Perry
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pentagon's Wars is a dramatic account of the deep and divisive debates between America's civilian leaders and its military officers. Renowned military expert Mark Perry investigates these internal wars and sheds new light on the US military - the most powerful and influential lobby in Washington.
By: Mark Perry
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Nixon's Secrets
- By: Roger Stone, Mike Colapietro
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn the inside scoop on Watergate, the Ford Pardon, and the 18-minute Gap. Roger Stone, The New York Times best-selling author of The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, gives the inside scoop on Nixon’s rise and fall in Watergate in his new book Nixon’s Secrets. Stone charts Nixon’s rise from election to Congress in 1946 to the White House in 1968 after his razor-thin loss to John Kennedy in 1960, his disastrous campaign for Governor of California in 1962, and the greatest comeback in American Presidential history.
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Great book but....
- By Alan on 11-20-14
By: Roger Stone, and others
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The Greatest Comeback
- How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority
- By: Patrick J. Buchanan
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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After suffering stinging defeats in the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy, and in the 1962 California gubernatorial election, Nixon's career was declared dead by Washington press and politicians alike. Yet on January 20, 1969, just six years after he had said his political life was over, Nixon would stand taking the oath of office as 37th President of the United States. How did Richard Nixon resurrect a ruined career and reunite a shattered and fractured Republican Party to capture the White House?
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The comeback kid
- By Jean on 07-23-14
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The Restless Wave
- Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations
- By: John McCain, Mark Salter
- Narrated by: John McCain, Beau Bridges
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In a time when Washington, DC and the country are more polarized than they have been for decades, John McCain is the rare public figure who has earned the respect of people on both sides of the aisle. He is a model for bipartisanship and political integrity. In his 40 years in politics, McCain has never been afraid to buck trends or ruffle a few feathers. His words are more important today than ever.
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A true patriot
- By Diane Peresie on 05-29-18
By: John McCain, and others
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Inside view of five decades in politics
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Ascent to Power
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Spanning the years of transition, 1944 to 1948, Ascent to Power illuminates Truman’s struggles to emerge as president in his own right. Yet, from a relatively unknown Missouri senator to the most powerful man on Earth, Truman’s legacy transcends. With his come-from-behind campaign in the fall of 1948, his courageous civil rights advocacy, and his role in liberating millions from militarist governments and brutal occupations, Truman’s decisions during these pivotal years changed the course of the world in ways so significant we live with them today.
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Very good
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Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
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Fair and insightful
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Obama's Wars
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Working behind the scenes for 18 months, Bob Woodward has written the most intimate and sweeping portrait of President Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism.
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Supremely thorough and interesting
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Very good
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Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
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Fair and insightful
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Woodward Does a Service
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Impeached
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In 1868 Congress impeached President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the man who had succeeded the murdered Lincoln, bringing the nation to the brink of a second civil war. Enraged to see the freed slaves abandoned to brutal violence at the hands of their former owners, distraught that former rebels threatened to regain control of Southern state governments, and disgusted by Johnson's brawling political style, congressional Republicans seized on a legal technicality as the basis for impeachment - whether Johnson had the legal right to fire his own secretary of war, Edwin Stanton.
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Highly recommended
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The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
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Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
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From the Saddam’s Point of View.
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Bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands narrates the fierce debate over America's role in the world in the runup to World War II through its two most important figures: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who advocated intervention, and his isolationist nemesis, aviator and popular hero Charles Lindbergh.
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Another American History Pearl from H.W. Brands
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Reagan
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Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
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Very little about Reagan
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In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
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A sad day when my book was done!
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For years, the United States was confident that the newly democratic Russia and increasingly wealthy China could be lured into a Western-led order that promised prosperity and relative peace—so long as they agreed to Washington’s terms. By the time America emerged from the age of terrorism, it was clear that this had been a fantasy.
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Gives many insights into our new Cold Wars
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Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson's election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad.
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Unlikable Old Hickory
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Citizen
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Citizen is Clinton’s front-row, first-person chronicle of his post-presidential years and the most significant events of the twenty-first century, including 9/11 and the runup to the Iraq War, the Haiti earthquake, the Great Recession, COVID-19, the January 6th insurrection, and the enduring culture wars of our times. Yet Citizen is more than a presidential memoir. This book captures Clinton in a rare and unforgettable light: not only as celebrated former president and foundation leader, but also as a father, grandfather, and husband.
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Thought-provoking and Inspiring!
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Truman
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Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
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Five Presidents
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- By: Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin Hill
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Secret Service agent Clint Hill brings history intimately and vividly to life as he reflects on his 17 years protecting the most powerful office in the nation. Hill walked alongside Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford, seeing them through a long, tumultuous era - the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard M. Nixon.
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Interesting, but....
- By Papa Charlie on 07-09-17
By: Clint Hill, and others
What listeners say about Days of Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Shane Schmauder
- 07-29-24
The disconnect
This book is extremely informative. Growing up as a kid during this era, you could feel the fear and uncertainty and that the government had our best interest. The disconnect this administration had with the general public and its own intelligence is baffling. Intelligence should drive policy, not the other way around. I think Bush is thoughtful and overall a good leader. But he was in over his head and became aloof, strayed along by a disputing cabinet. I believe his presidency was the most decisive in the last 40 years.
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- Alex
- 07-10-17
Informative and entertaining
A comprehensive look at the entirety of Bush and Cheney's careers and time in office. It's in the form of a novel with the politicians seeming like characters of a story. It jumps around from topic to topic and never failed to hold my attention.
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- Brian J. Kuester
- 08-27-23
Great book!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The content and performance kept me coming back to listen to more.
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- Matthew F. Brown
- 07-11-15
Informative!
This book took me over a month to complete and at times I struggled to stay with it but it was so worth it. This is a very comprehensive account of the 8 years Bush 43 held the office of the president. I read Decision Points before this one and this really helped fill in any blanks there may have been. I feel like I know all there is to know about George W. Bush and most of his administration. Great book and finishing it makes for a sad day. It's been a part of my morning commute for quite some time. Definitely recommend, and will recommend Decision Points as well.
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- Joe
- 08-26-14
Best memoir of the Bush years
What did you love best about Days of Fire?
The author writes a very objective memoir of the Bush years. This is a great story because the author tells the interesting a relevant facts without bogging you down in details/dates/too many names.
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- Jean
- 07-30-14
An objective viewpoint
I hesitated in getting this book, I was not sure if the book was going to be a whitewash job or acrimonious, but instead I found it to be objective report. Peter Baker is a White House reporter for the New York Times. I find he has written a through, engaging and objective history of the Bush-Cheney years in the White House.
Baker states Vice President Cheney was the most powerful vice president in history. He did more than anyone to shape counter terrorism policy after the 9/11 attack and lead us into war in Iraq. In the second term Cheney looked and acted more like the traditional vice president. President Bush generally pursued a more centrist course on many or most of the issues-over Cheney’s objection. One of the questions in the book, was Cheney always an ultra conservative Republican or did the repeated heart problems cause him to change? Before Bush left office he set up the programs to bail out of the banks and the car companies in an attempt to slow down or stop the recession/depression. The historical judgments of the Bush administration are only beginning to take shape. It has taken several years for the key people to write their memoirs and for the presidents’ friend and subordinates to offer stories they wouldn’t volunteer at the time the Bush team was in the White House. Baker painstakingly worked through all the books published so far and interviewed over 200 people for this book.
I found the section of the book about selecting judges most interesting. I noticed that Bush selected the people whose job it was to find, obtain information on and interview attorneys for judgeship even before moving into the White House. He set about filling every vacancy on all Federal courts. He also had staff looking for a Supreme Court justice, at that time Chief Justice Rehnquist was ill and most likely would be resigning soon. Bush was surprised and pleased to be able to appoint two justices as that would change the balance of the Court. He was looking for someone who was conservative and would not change after being appointed as did Justice Souter. I noted Bush called and spoke to each person appointed to a judgeship, so they would know that he was involved in their appointment. Baker claimed no other president, had called to speak to appointees of the lower courts. Baker spent several chapters describing in detail the court selection process. As I have been reading about the Supreme Court and the legal system recently, I was excited to learn about the process from the viewpoint of the presiding President.
The book traces the upbringing and early careers of both Bush and Cheney and follows them to the end of their time in the White House. The author’s book is notable for its scope and ambition. I am sure it will become a reference source for historians in the future. The process of disillusionment which culminated in Bush’s refusal to pardon Cheney’s aid Scooter Libby forms the heart of the book. Mark Deakins did an excellent job narrating the book.
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- TERENCE M BURKE
- 07-01-16
In depth for policy wonks
If you love details this is your book. It provides a thorough account of the Bush-Cheney years in the White House. An even-handed assessment that historians will rely on for years to come
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- Anonymous User
- 05-30-21
Great insight!
This plays like a miniseries. Very compelling book on the Bush-Cheney partnership from 2001-2009.
Lots of details, characters, and surprises.
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- John M Read
- 06-18-23
Changed my opinion Bush
So much has changed since the election of Donald Trump. I still dislike the vice president, Cheney, maybe even more so after listening to this book, George Bush made an awesome mistake invading Iraq chasing down something that didn’t exist even though at that time, I thought the United States should at least go into Iraq to look for weapons of mass destruction, but not Try to change Iraq into some sort of democracy. We should’ve just looked for the weapons and left after not finding them or if we did find them destroy them.
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- Catherine L. Fithian
- 06-05-21
An Absolute Stunner
I grew up hating W. I was a fanatical viewer of Jon Stewart (at probably too young an age) and I soaked in every word my father said about switching to become a Republican in Ohio in 2000 just to vote against him in the Primary. He was stupid, boorish, ruined our alliances and every move he took was a mistake. It wasn’t Bush’s fault though anyway, he was an empty suit as Darth Cheney ran the Administration and destroyed America.
This endlessly fascinating, detailed and researched book is probably the most thorough confrontation of those beliefs I have ever had. In light of the last administration, I have been warming up as an adult to W. as a man, and this book was a game changer for me. On balance I still believe the Bush Presidency was a failed administration, but I walk away from this book believing it was not only nowhere near as bad as I had grown up believing but also largely a failure based on genuine positives of Bush himself as a politician and as a man.
The Bush revealed in this book may have been anti-intellectual, but not stupid. He was a deep thinker, well read, clever, but hated pretension and superiority complexes. He genuinely believed most of what he said, and when he attempted to play the cynical games of all American Politicians to win votes he would fail to find the passion or drive to push. In particular his pledge to ban same sex marriage as a second campaign promise, as he was personally opposed to federal involvement in such matters and loved many queer people in his life, but pushed the pledge nonetheless to win an Evangelical Base he only mildly related to. He genuinely cared for the education of all Americans despite race or language, and the failure of No Child Left Behind was born not of cynical politicking but of a genuine disconnect between the research of childcare and the policy makers. Big one: I get the build up to the war in Iraq, on Bush’s part. The war was a blunder that helped throw the entire region into turmoil, but for much of his second term especially the war seemed to be creating stability and ending in honor. Bush himself comes off as a real human being who fundamentally was not built for the role in history he was mantled with, and fundamentally he made mistakes born out of intentions I cannot argue against. He also admits that a lot throughout the book. He was self aware in ways many politicians fundamentally are not.
Cheney does not come off as well. The Machiavellian Darth Cheney of the Left’s (and my) imagination is far more of a dude’s dude, a quiet, brooding, old guard neocon paranoid who believed in the military as a fly swatter and in the divine right of the American Presidency. The Dick of Adam McKay’s Vice is also wrong: he’s not an evil genius. He’s a strongman and a bit of a jerk. The book’s main thrust largely becomes how the first term was born out of Cheney seeming like a level headed mentor for W., and the second term being George and Condaleeza Rice attempting to clean up the messes Dick left in his wake. Cheney would have, honestly, fit in very well in The Donald’s administration, and feels very much a last remnant of the Nixon Era (which is exactly what he was).
This book is also perhaps the most exhaustively researched Presidential Narrative I have ever read not written by either Caro or Chernow. Every detail is lifted from interviews, memos, legal documents or recordings. Occasionally a reference is made toward how much legal trouble it was to get some of the documents sourced.
This book is utterly brilliant, and to end I wish to have a damning revelation from this book, and an uplifting and enlightening one. Firstly, The Patriot Act, wherein the Government had been permitted to spy on its citizens without repercussions, was born out of an ill thought out and rushed proposal that was never fully thought through. Your basic civil rights to privacy and free speech are violated every day because the bill wasn’t properly vetted.
And an up: fundamentally I don’t think the world would be a better place without the Bush Administration’s efforts to fight AIDS and Malaria worldwide, especially in Africa. Going step by step through the work W. pushed in the region, it is actually shocking how much the man clearly cared and what a net positive his administration brought. We have one positive from those eight years that need not come with an asterisk.
Read this book. It’s incredible.
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