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State Of Denial
Bush At War, Part III
by Bob Woodward


7.5

based on 12 reviews
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based on 9 votes
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The Secret Man

Official Publisher Site

The Washington Post reporter's third book on the Bush administration is far less flattering than his previous two, detailing how the White House planned for and handled the Iraq War and its ongoing aftermath.

Simon & Schuster, 576 pages
09/30/2006
$30.00

ISBN: 0743272234

Nonfiction
Current Events & Politics

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Wall Street Journal Peggy Noonan

A good book. It may be a great one. It is serious, densely, even exhaustively, reported, and a real contribution to history in that it gives history what it most requires, first-person testimony.

Washington Post Ted Widmer

Remarkable...State of Denial feels all the more outraged for its measured, nonpartisan tones and relentless reporting. It is nothing less than a watershed.

Chicago Sun-Times Ted Widmer

It is the angriest book Woodward has written since his first, "All the President's Men." Like that masterpiece, State of Denial feels all the more outraged for its measured, nonpartisan tones and relentless reporting. It is nothing less than a watershed.

Sydney Morning Herald Bruce Wolpe

Woodward is the most influential journalist of our times.

Boston Globe Chuck Leddy

Brimming with vivid details about White House meetings, critical phone calls, intelligence reports, and military affairs...Impressively detailed and eye-opening.

Salon Walter Shapiro

Woodward's best book in more than a decade...It offers the most revealing in-the-room glimpse of the Bush administration that we have so far.

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

But if much of State of Denial simply ratifies the larger outline of the Bush administration's bungled handling of the war as laid out by other reporters, Mr. Woodward does flesh out that narrative with new illustrations and some telling details that enrich the reader's understanding of the inner workings of this administration at this critical moment.

The Observer Peter Preston

Woodward Mark Three isn't as brave or as liberal as his admirers claim: it's merely a throwing out of old sources who have outlived their usefulness, a cynical clearing of decks. But at least it provokes reflection as well as incredulity: failure is so much more instructive than success.

PopMatters Chris Barsanti

One comes away from State of Denial thinking instead not about why Woodward turned on Bush, but instead about the surreal contradiction of an administration willing to put itself, and the country, on the line for a war it doesn’t seem to want to bother following through with.

The New York Times Book Review Franklin Foer

That Bob Woodward has strayed from the Bob Woodward method tells you a lot about the state of American journalism.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Grier

As most of Woodward's authorial efforts, it often seems like a gazillion-word Sunday story from The Washington Post - the kind you get one-third of the way through, then quit when your eyes go numb.

New York Observer Rick Perlstein

If Part III is the better book because it’s a more accurate portrayal of the Bush administration’s abject failures and inadequacies, doesn’t that make the author look worse? What was he withholding?

The average user rating for this book is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Riren gave it an8:
One of the better books about the handling of terrorism in the U.S. government, a sub-genre that shouldn't be as bloated as it is. There isn't a better book to start on if you're interested in this vital part of executive government. However, if this is your tenth book, you'll learn very little. If you're an idiot liberal looking for intellectual ammunition or an testy conservative looking to be outraged, this will probably do the trick as well as any of the other bestselling "insider" publications.

David H gave it an8:
First class, detailed, length and convincing. The style is more readable than in previous books but it is still wooden, and needs a better structure.

Bill C. gave it a9:
"Just The Facts,Ma'am" as Sgt. Friday used to say. It's all laid out here without any embellishment or ax to grind. Which is worse lying or hiding the truth? The book shows how both are coming from the Bush camp 24/7. Theirs lots of charactors and quotes to back it up. How did the press keep us uniformed for so long--that should be the next book.

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State Of Denial Bush At War, Part III by Bob Woodward

State Of Denial
Bush At War, Part III
by Bob Woodward