In the definitive book on the Bush presidency, a gifted reporter and longtime Bush observer with unprecedented access to the White House offers a revealing and balanced look at this most secretive of administrations.
“Essential . . . one for the ages . . . a must read for all who care about presidential power.” —The Washington Post “Authoritative . . . The most comprehensive account yet of that smoldering wreck of foreign policy, one that haunts us today.” —LA Times One of BookPage's Best Books of 2020 To Start a War paints a vivid and indelible picture of a decision-making process that was fatally compromised by a combination of post-9/11 fear and paranoia, rank naïveté, craven groupthink, and a set of actors with idées fixes who gamed the process relentlessly. Everything was believed; nothing was true. Robert Draper’s fair-mindedness and deep understanding of the principal actors suffuse his account, as does a storytelling genius that is close to sorcery. There are no cheap shots here, which makes the ultimate conclusion all the more damning. In the spirit of Barbara W. Tuchman’s The Guns of August and Marc Bloch’s Strange Defeat, To Start A War will stand as the definitive account of a collective scurrying for evidence that would prove to be not just dubious but entirely false—evidence that was then used to justify a verdict that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and a flood tide of chaos in the Middle East that shows no signs of ebbing.
Provides a close examination of the final two years of the Bush Presidency in a revealing and riveting look at the new House of Representatives, elected in the history-making 2010 midterm elections.
The disturbing eyewitness account of how a new breed of Republicans—led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Madison Cawthorn—far from moving on from Trump, have taken the politics of hysteria to even greater extremes and brought American democracy to the edge The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a terrible day for American democracy, but many people dared to hope that at least it would break the fever that had overcome the Republican Party and banish Trump's relentless lies about the stealing of the 2020 election. That is not what happened. Instead, “the big steal” has become dogma among an ever-higher percentage of American Republicans. What happened to the Republican Party, and America, during the Trump presidency is a story we more or less think we know. What has happened to the party since, it turns out, is even more disquieting. That is the story Robert Draper tells in Weapons of Mass Delusion. Through his extraordinarily intrepid cross-country reporting, Draper chronicles the road from January 6 to the 2022 midterms among the Republican base and in the U.S. Congress, rendering unforgettable portraits of how Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk came to shape their party’s terms of engagement to an extent that would have been unimaginable even five years ago. He also brings to life the efforts of a dwindling group of Republicans who are willing to push back against the falsehoods, in the face of a group of ascendent demagogues who are merrily weaponizing them. With a base whipped up into a perpetual frenzy of outrage by conspiracy theories—not just about the big steal but about COVID and vaccines, pedophilia and Antifa and Black Lives Matter and George Soros and President Obama, and on and on and on—the forces of reason within the GOP are on the defensive, to put it mildly. The book also benefits greatly from reporting conducted in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, and other bellwether states in the country of the mind one might call a fever of undending conspiracies. Robert Draper has been a wise, fearless, and fair-minded chronicler of the American political scene for over twenty-five years. He has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. He has never seen it this ugly. Ultimately, this book tells the story of a fearful test of our ability, as a country, to hold together a system of government grounded in truth and the rule of law. Written on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, Draper’s account of a party teetering on the precipice of madness reveals how the GOP fringe became its center of gravity.
Every day the news is filled with horror stories of war, atrocities, and other unspeakable acts. Yet how many are willing to consider that the source of these violent acts in a violent world is fear and, therefore, only different in form from our own hateful thoughts and unkind deeds toward ourselves and others? Silence Is the Answer not only explains the undeniable connection, but directs the reader toward the repair of the only world that needs fixing — one's own mind.Author Robert E. Draper culls countless examples from ancient history to the present day to demonstrate how often this world built on separation and fear makes no sense. Explaining the futility of attempting to change the ephemeral world of appearances, he encourages readers to heed the teachings of the wise, who from throughout the ages have taught that lasting safety can only come from self-examination and changing one's mind.
I Am Not" is author Robert E. Draper's attempt to provide insight into our age-old plight of finding ourselves “strangers in a strange land,” as well as into the great difficulty we all have in accepting that if we are living in a world of virtual insanity, we are—at least partly—insane too.According to the author, this world is a dystopian battleground, a product of a collective amnesia that has burdened us all with the difficult task of living coherently while working our way back to the awareness of what we are: united; yet believing we are what we are not: separated—all of our hearts breaking over what we know not.The central theme of "I Am Not" is recognizing the futility of our efforts to improve the trap we appear to be in, redirecting those efforts to the goal of waking up to what we are doing, saving not the world but ourselves. Only thus can we reverse our own course into madness, finding—and demonstrating—there is hope within, right in the middle of a place where there is none to be found without.
Pope Francis' appointment to the papacy in 2013 electrified the world and injected a new energy into the Catholic Church. His message of mercy and humility resonates the world over, with people of every faith. For this extraordinary book, National Geographic photographer Dave Yoder spent more than six months working in the field in Rome to capture the spirit of the Vatican today, revealing the pontiff's public life and personal crusades as never before and showcasing the fascinating inner workings of the Vatican, a uniquely powerful state. Complementary essays by acclaimed journalist Robert Draper reveal Pope Francis' personal story, his journey to the papacy, and the heart of his ministry. Set against the beauty of time-honored ceremonies, wondrous art and architecture, and the lives of the faithful the world over, this stunning volume is a special portrait of a beloved pontiff and one of the world's most beloved institutions.
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