Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

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 rake on the full scope of Cheney's work and its consequences, including his hidden tole in the Bush administration's most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from aI Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting "cruel and inhuman" methods of interrogation.

Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Angler describes a man of deep conviction and remorseless will who reshaped his office and his times. Dick Cheney played a paramount role in decisions that ranged from war and peace to the economy, the environment, and the meaning of the law. His hand was often unseen even by colleagues. Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.

Angler tracks Cheney's trajectory through two terms as a loyal and valued adviser who nonetheless posed dangers to the president he served. In one riveting narrative, Gellman describes a lengthy crisis over NSA surveillance in which Cheney's close hold on information left even George Bush out of the loop. BlackBerry messages, contemporary notes, and on-the-record interviews rake us inside urgent meetings in the vice president's office, the Situation Room, the White House counsel's living room, and the president's private study.

In documentary detail, Gellman shows how Cheney's unyielding course brought Bush to the brink of ruin before the president veered away. Cheney redefined his job before he even joined the ticket in 2000.

Angler offers vivid details of his selection as running mate, his command of the presidential transition, and his habit of "reaching down" to steer Bush's options. September 11 amplified Cheney's importance , and Gellman shows how he guided the "war on terror" to Iraq, domestic espionage, glove...

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