State of War, James Risen
State of War, James Risen
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
Club: $9.49

State of War

Author: James Risen

Narrator: Boyd Gaines

Abridged: 6 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/05/2006


Synopsis

James Risen has broken story after story on the abuses of power of the Bush administration.

From warrantless wiretapping to secret financial data mining to the CIA's rogue operations, he has shown again and again that the executive branch has dangerously overreached, repudiated checks and balances on its power, and maintained secrecy even with its allies in Congress. In no small part thanks to Risen and State of War, the "secret history" of the Bush years has now come partially into view.

In a new epilogue for the paperback edition, Risen describes the two-front war that President Bush is now fighting: at home against Congress and the Supreme Court, as his administration is increasingly reined in from its abuses; and in the Middle East, where George W. Bush's great gamble to bring a democratic revolution is failing radically. We must learn the lessons of Risen's history now, before it is too late.

About James Risen

James Risen covers national security for The New York Times. He was a member of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2002 for coverage of September 11 and terrorism, and he is the coauthor of Wrath of Angels and The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife and three sons.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Erik on September 16, 2022

NYT national security expert James Risen's book traces the disastrous U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through 2005 and the destructive roles played by neoconservatives and the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld.......more

Goodreads review by Will on October 08, 2008

Risen writes what he calls “a secret history of the CIA and the Bush administration, both before and after 9/11” (p 10) P 3 The absence of effective management has been the defining characteristic of the Bush administration’s foreign policy and has allowed radical decisions to take effect rapidly with......more

Goodreads review by Steven on April 13, 2017

This book goes back to how the Bush Administration acted and reacted to the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq invasion. But the more I read it the more I was sort of perturbed that Congress wasn't involved at all. Congress had no oversight which they are supposed to do, Congress didn't challenge anything ab......more

Goodreads review by Dina on July 04, 2017

It's a good description about how the war in Iraq started and what a mess the whole thing was. Basically just a cesspool that is playing with people lives. The whole system is rotten to the core.......more