Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman’s
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, Gellman’s
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 Cheney’s
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 Cheney’s 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 administration’s environment policy. We
watch as Cheney, the ultimate Washington insider, leverages his
influence within the Bush administration in order to implement his
policy goals. Gellman’s 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 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.
Biography
Barton Gellman is a special projects reporter on the national staff of The Washington Post,
following tours as diplomatic correspondent, Jerusalem bureau chief,
Pentagon correspondent, and D.C. Superior Court reporter. He shared the
Pulitzer Prize in 2002 and has won honors from the Overseas Press Club,
Society of Professional Journalists, and American Society of Newspaper
Editors. Gellman graduated summa cum laude 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.
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
by Barton Gellman