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Book Cover for: Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, Barton Gellman

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

Barton Gellman

The landmark exposé of the most powerful and secretive vice president in American history

Barton Gellman shared the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for a keen-edged reckoning with Dick Cheney's domestic agenda in The Washington Post. In Angler, Gellman goes far beyond that series to take on the full scope of Cheney's work and its consequences, including his hidden role in the Bush administration's most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting cruel and inhumane methods of interrogation. Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.

An inspiration for the film Vice, starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Steve Carrell.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
  • Publish Date: Aug 1st, 2009
  • Pages: 512
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.52in - 5.32in - 1.09in - 0.94lb
  • EAN: 9780143116165
  • Recommended age: 18-UP
  • Categories: American Government - Executive BranchPoliticalUnited States - 21st Century

About the Author

Barton Gellman is a special projects reporter at The Washington Post, following tours that covered diplomacy, the Middle East, the Pentagon, and the D.C. superior court. His Cheney series, with partner Jo Becker, won a 2008 Pulitzer Prize, a George Polk Award, and the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Gellman also shared a Pulitzer for national reporting in 2002, and his work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Gellman graduated with highest honors 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. Gellman lives in New York City.

Praise for this book

"a forceful new study ... connecting the dots to give the reader a visceral understanding of just how Mr. Cheney maneuvered...."
a Michiko Kakutani in the "NYT"
"engrossing and informative ... the most penetrating portrait of him yet"
aJacob Heilbrunn in the "NYT Book Review"
"this new and brilliantly researched account a] went where Woodward was unable or uninterested in going.... an indispensable volume without which the Bush presidency canat be understood."
a Steve Clemons in the "American Conservative"
"Until now I assumed it would take decades ... for an author (say, some future Robert Caro) to uncover and describe Cheney's secretive role."
a James Mann in the "WP"
"It's unbelievable. I mean, get this. Just spend one night reading it by the fire, and see if you can sleep again." a Jon Stewart on the "Daily Show"
"a remarkable tale extremely well told."
a Clive Crook in the "FT"
"a mesmerizing guided tour"
a Tom Carson ("Esquire" critic)
"Jaw-dropping . . . It reads like a thriller."
-Nicholas D. Kristof, "The New York Times"

""Angler" could well turn out to be the most revealing account of Cheney's activities as vice president that ever gets written"
-James Mann, "The Washington Post"