This book, by a investigative reporter who won a Pulitzer prize for the reporting which gave rise to a series on which his book is based, is fascinating reading and, for anyone not aware of Cheney's powerful and doleful role in the Bush Administration, eye-opening. Cheney is shown to be the one mainly responisble for what Republican Dick Armey called "probably the greatest foreign policy blunder in modern times"--the invasion of Iraq. The book is full of carefully compiled information, fully sourced, and showing how grateful we should be that Cheney is now just a carping critic rather than in a position to do the nation greater harm. Chapter 12 is as thrilling an account as one can find and would be deemed improbable or incredible if it were in a novel--it tells of the effort to get Ashcroft to sign a document while in the hospital. ( )

This book rearranged my opinion of the Bush presidency by revealing the symbiotic relationship and the unusual balance of power between the two men at the top. They each served the other's purposes. Bush, because he was not interested in details and didn't like to focus on the individual layers of complex problems, routinely lobbed those responsibilities to the VP or else ignored them and, by creating a vacuum, gave Cheney countless opportunities to apply his philosophy of leadership and unusual administrative acumen to execution of the national agenda. For Cheney, Bush's preference for concentrating on broader issues and his reliance on Cheney as a confidante resulted in an administration whose president was spokesman for an agenda set or at least thoroughly vetted by a vice president of unprecedented influence.

Gellman's ability to draw information from sources close to the vice president is truly impressive and part of what makes this book so compelling. His revelations are all the more fascinating because they are written in the clear, succinct language that we hope for from journalists but don't always find. ( )

Fast read on a secretive man. I was startled to find out how much power he assumed. A good book and one I was glad I read.

Gellman's book is not a biography. It only deals with Cheney's time in office as Vice President. It does cover some familiar ground, but also surprising facts, personality traits, and events.

Cheney comes across here as indeed a man driven by his love of his country and to do what he perceives as right for the country, regardless of the costs and the politics. He is, in some ways, driven by ideology. One of his most fixed ideas was that the power of the Presidency was damaged by the fallout over Nixon and Watergate, and he was determined to increase the power of the Presidency by any and all means.

Yet Gellman places him in the pragmatist wing of the GOP rather than the neoconservative wing, despite the fact that the Iraq war was the neocons' wet dream. His explanation of why Cheney supported the war makes more sense than any other explanation I've seen. Cheney did see Iran and North Korea as more of a threat, but we would not be able to attack them without severe blowback. The response of China to an attack on North Korea was too uncertain and Iraq had a well-equipped army and the fourth largest oil reserves. So Iraq was selected for its "demonstration effect" - it would show the other enemy regimes that America could and would act (see chapter 9). Gellman doesn't say it, but Cheney seems to have miscalculated the time and effort involved in the Iraq war, and that Iran's position in the region would only be enhanced by removal of Saddam Hussein.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the book is the depiction of the near meltdown of the government over the attempt to re-authorize the surveillance program over the objections of much of the Justice Department. We've all heard about the dramatic scene in John Ashcroft's hospital room, but Gellman gives even more detail and shows why this was one of the most important episodes in the Bush administration. First of all, the program was reauthorized without the approval of the Attorney General, and it came quite close to having several layers of Justice Department employees resigning over it, even many who didn't know all the details of the program in question. Gellman seems to think the administration would not have survived that kind of a loss and the subsequent Congressional investigations. Moreover, Cheney and his right-hand man, David Addington, did not sufficiently brief the President on the events, and Gellman seems to think Bush after this turned to Cheney less and to other advisers more. Cheney was also weakened by the loss of Scooter Libby.

All in all, a fascinating read. Gellman uses many sources, but relied heavily on interviews with as many people as he could, some of whom are anonymous - a necessary evil in a book like this. Future historians will find this book invaluable in understanding the Bush administration, as should citizens trying to understand why our government under George W. Bush has gone so wrong.

Highly recommended. ( )