Angler

The Shadow Presidency of Dick Cheney

Barton Gellman

The first time the story of the 'Dick Cheney Presidency' has been told - with unique sources, behind-the-scenes access and plenty of revelations

For eight years the world has felt the consequences of an American leader who has managed to alienate natural allies, show contempt for international law and disregard threats to the global environment. This man was not George W. Bush, but Dick Cheney - the most powerful and unaccountable figure ever to become America's Vice President, and arguably the most damaging.

Angler (the Secret Service code name for Cheney) is the first serious history of this calamitous period to reveal Dick Cheney's true role at the heart of the story. A retread from the early '70s Nixon White House, Cheney was originally in charge of the selection process for Bush's vice-presidential candidate, and this would prove to be only the first of many circuits he would rewire so that power flowed his way. Given George Bush's inattention to detail, Cheney did not need to be President to control much of the White House agenda. Bush's many enemies have always been puzzled by the way that such a seemingly uncomplicated man could fix the system so brilliantly and so ruthlessly. Angler puts an end to this conundrum: we have all been looking in the wrong place.

Angler is engrossing and shocking, yet it does not read like a polemic; written by one of America's most respected journalists, it is scrupulously fair-minded, which makes its ultimate verdict all the more damning.

Barton Gellman is a special projects reporter on the national staff of the Washington Post. He was previously diplomatic correspondent, Jerusalem bureau chief, Pentagon correspondent and D.C. Superior Court reporter. He shared the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 and has won honours from the Overseas Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He is the author of Contending With Kennan: Toward a Philosophy of American Power.