I just finished Bob Woodward's in-depth chronology of the lead-up to the Iraq War, Plan of Attack. The book starts in 2001, shortly after a meeting on Afghanistan when Bush asks Rumsfeld to start looking at the current Iraq war plan, and ends on the first day of the war in March of 2003. It's based on documents, confidential sources, and interviews Woodward with Bush and Rumsfeld.
Chronology really is the right word for it, too, as it's pretty matter-of-fact, with little embellishment. According to Wikipedia, in 2004 when the book came out, the Kerry campaign recommended the book as a reason to vote against Bush and the Bush campaign recommended it as a reason to vote for him. I thought that the lead-up to Iraq would be the most interesting timeto read about Bush. It was also a good companion to the book 30 Days,
which I read a few years ago about Tony Blair in the 30 days before the
war. All in all, the story of Blair is a lot more interesting–a man
who gives up nearly everything he's worked for because he believes he's
right. But the specific war planning covered in Plan of Attack and how something like that is done was very intriguing. I've been interested for some time in reading presidential biographies. For early presidents, so far I've done 1776, focusing on George Washington, watched the John Adams HBO mini-series (but will read the book at some point), and read Christopher Hitchen's biography of Thomas Jefferson. For the 20th century, I read Mornings on Horseback about Theodore Roosevelt's childhood (up until he was 27) and Schlesinger's A Thousand Days about Kennedy. I've also read Dreams from My Father, which I supposed kind of counts toward this list. Out of the list, the only "full life story" biography was the Jefferson biography. The rest deal with particular times in the life of presidents, which I think I prefer. I'm not sure what Presidential biography I'll tackle next. I might go back and do a Clinton biography. I'm thinking either The Survivor or The Agenda (another Woodward book). Or I might go back and do another Washington biography and read His Excellency, George Washington. I'll also be picking up another TR book at some point and read River of Doubt, which is about Roosevelt in the Amazon after he was president. Anyone want to make a recommendation on a presidential biography you read and thought was good? Definitely open to suggestions.
I really liked Edmund Morris’ The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It starts with his childhood and goes all the way up to his short vice presidency (the second book, Theodore Rex, is on my to-read pile). I also thought Sidney Blumethal’s The Clinton Wars was absolutely fascinating insider’s look at the Clinton White House.