In this comprehensive and incisive portrait of Dick Cheney and his tenure as Vice-President, journalist Barton Gellman tells how Cheney grabbed the reins of power, assumed control of the decision-making processes at the White House, suppressed dissenting views, and extended not only the power of the president but also, covertly, the power of the vice-president. Gellman portrays Cheney as a veteran Washington insider who learned to play the game and mastered it through decades of public service. Cheney, says Gellman, was the prime architect of the Bush war strategy in Iraq, and was a consummate stonewaller who frustrated the Congress and the press in a side-run around the Constitution. Selected by the New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of 2008.

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 shows how Cheney operated, why, and what he wrought. This 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. It is a study of the inner workings of the Bush administration and the vice president's central role as the administration's canniest power player. Gellman exposes the mechanics of Cheney's largely successful post-September 11 campaign to win unchecked power for the commander in chief, and reflects upon, and perhaps changes, the legacy that Cheney--and the Bush administration as a whole--will leave as they exit office.--From publisher description.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Contending with Kennan evaluates the ways in which Dick Cheney has redefined the role of the American vice presidency by assuming unprecedented responsibilities and wielding history-making power. 200,000 first printing.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Contending with Kennan evaluates the ways in which Dick Cheney has redefined the role of the American vice presidency by assuming unprecedented responsibilities and wielding history-making power. 200,000 first printing.