Books by James Mann
“George W. Bush was a pivotal president. We had September 11 on his watch, of course, which was a big moment in our country’s history. Then the immediate response to that, where we had unity as a country: Okay, we’ve been attacked, we’re bonding together. Then we go into Afghanistan, transition into the Iraq initiative, it doesn’t go well and it tears the country apart. The aftermath of the Iraq War hardened and accelerated America’s dysfunction and partisanship, and it just keeps getting worse. Then Obama inflamed it because he angered a lot of people. A lot of the country wasn’t ready for him to be president, and then, of course, Trump turbocharged it.” Read more...
Five of the Best U.S. Political Biographies
William Cooper, Journalist
Rise of the Vulcans
by James Mann
This is an intellectual history of Bush foreign policy advisers – Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Condi Rice and Colin Powell
Interviews where books by James Mann were recommended
The best books on Post-9/11 America, recommended by Peter Beinart
The neoconservative view that the US has a special mission in the world was supercharged by 9/11. There was also a sense that 9/11 could make America better. Sadly it didn’t work out that way, says Peter Beinart
Five of the Best U.S. Political Biographies, recommended by William Cooper
Biographers create character studies of fascinating people, through which we might insight into the historical context and the systems these individuals functioned within. Here, journalist and attorney William Cooper recommends five U.S. political biographies and memoirs that allow readers special access to the rooms where American decision-making takes place.
