Angler - by Barton Gellman (Paperback)

About the Book

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gellman documents how Vice President Dick Cheney chose to redefine the role of the American vice presidency, assuming unprecedented responsibilities and making it a post of historic power.

Book Synopsis

A New York Times bestseller - Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize - Inspiration for the film Vice

"Jaw-dropping . . . It reads like a thriller." --The New York Times

The landmark exposé of the most powerful and secretive vice president in American history

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 take on the full scope of Cheney's work and its consequences, including his hidden role in the Bush administration's most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting cruel and inhumane methods of interrogation. Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.

Review Quotes

"Jaw-dropping . . . It reads like a thriller." --Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times

"Angler could well turn out to be the most revealing account of Cheney's activities as vice president that ever gets written." --James Mann, The Washington Post

"[A] forceful new study ... connecting the dots to give the reader a visceral understanding of just how Mr. Cheney maneuvered...." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"A triumph of reporting... Gellman's narrative deserves to be read in full in all its dismaying detail." --Sam Tanenhaus, The New Republic

About the Author

Barton Gellman is a special projects reporter at The Washington Post, following tours that covered diplomacy, the Middle East, the Pentagon, and the D.C. superior court. His Cheney series, with partner Jo Becker, won a 2008 Pulitzer Prize, a George Polk Award, and the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Gellman also shared a Pulitzer for national reporting in 2002, and his work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Gellman graduated with highest honors from Princeton University and earned a master's degree in politics at University College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He is the author of Contending with Kennan: Toward a Philosophy of American Power. Gellman lives in New York City.