by Craig Unger
First published 2012
Craig Unger investigates the catastrophic decision that led America into the Iraq War under George W. Bush's presidency. The author traces the roots of this foreign policy disaster back decades, revealing the secret alliance between neoconservative policymakers and the Christian Right that undermined constitutional safeguards. Unger documents how Dick Cheney manipulated Bush, assembled a shadow national security apparatus, and created disinformation pipelines to justify war. Through extensive interviews with Christian Right figures, neoconservatives, Bush administration officials, family sources, and intelligence agents from the CIA, Pentagon, and Israel, the book reveals how forged documents discredited by intelligence agencies still reached Bush's State of the Union address. Unger shows how Bush believed he was fulfilling God's will while ignoring his father's counsel. The investigation exposes the administration's certainty that it could reshape history, resulting in thousands of American deaths, trillions in costs, and a strategic disaster that threatens wider Middle Eastern conflict.
Genres: history, political-science, politics, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Iraq, Middle East
Period: 2000s
448 pages · Paperback · Scribner
Content warnings: war