Book Title Rage
Book Author Bob Woodward
Pub. Year 2020
Genre US Presidents
My Rating. 5 Stars
Ease of Read Easy, long
ISBN 978-1982141739
I was attracted to this book because… I appreciate Bob Woodard’s reporting and analysis. I was drawn to the book based on the seventeen in-person and phone meetings Woodward used as a foundation for the book.
This book was about the last tumultuous year of President Trump’s first term of office. The concept as the book was conceived would be a reporting of the Trump administration after the impeachment. While the President had been unhappy with Woodward’s first book about his term, the realization that none of Woodward’s requests for interviews had been answered. For this book, President Trump was willing to be interviewed by Woodward. And, indeed, several of the phone call interviews were initiated by President Trump.
Things I liked about this book Woodward is a fair and patient interviewer. He shares much of the dialogue in these seventeen interviews verbatim. Since these have been released, we need the accuracy of the reports. He had used his many resources in Washington to bring a ‘deep background’ reporting of the key players in the Trump White House. While we do learn minor details, most of what Woodward writes fills in holes in the skeleton of what we have known. I was reassured to learn of my fears of the threats of North Korea were echoed by many of the top White House officials.
But, as happens in many well planned projects, the breakout of a virus in China in late 2019 would change the scope of the book.
Once again, Woodward’s comprehensive reporting helps being structure to a very confusing year.
Why you should read this book While the book is fascinating, I recommend you read the Epilogue. It is a good summary and highlights the important conclusions from the book.
This book lived up to the back cover copy The back cover is a few words on the work of Bob Woodward as a ‘great explainer of how government works.’ Woodward continues to live up to his reputation.