geeky
In addition to his books about Nixon, Woodward wrote books about many of the successive presidents. In 1976 his book about Nixon's resignation was published, entitled The Final Days. His next book was published three years later in 1979, about the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren Burger, entitled The Brethren. He changed subjects with his 1984 book Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi, which was about the death of the Saturday Night Live comedian and the Hollywood drug culture. In 1987 his next book, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, was published. It was about the CIA's "secret wars" during the reign of William J. Casey. In 1991 The Commanders was published, a book about the Pentagon, the first Bush administration and the Gulf War. Three years later in 1994, The Agenda came out, a book about President Bill Clinton's first term in office and in 1996 he followed up with The Choice, a book about Bill Clinton's re-election bid. In 1999 his next book, Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate, hit the bookstores. It was, as its title suggest, about the legacy of Watergate and the scandals that faced later Presidential administrations.
I'd like to focus on Woodward's books concerning the last two administrations. Woodward wrote four books about the Bush administration and its handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq:
Bush at War (in 2002)
Plan of Attack (2004)
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (2006)
The War Within (2008)
In this series of books, Woodward began from a perspective where he believed the Bush administration's claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. During an appearance on the CNN talk show Larry King Live, Woodward was asked by a telephone caller, "Suppose we go to war and go into Iraq and there are no weapons of mass destruction". He responded "I think the chance of that happening is about zero. There's just too much there." In Bush at War, Woodward writes about President George W. Bush's responses to the September 11 attacks and his administration's handling of the subsequent War in Afghanistan. Much of the book recounts events in meetings of the United States National Security Council, with the book also discussing the activities of a number of major players in the Bush Administration, including Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and NSC chief Condoleezza Rice. Woodward examined notes from such NSC meetings and also interviewed administration officials including President Bush. In the book he discusses the administration's decision to go to war in Afghanistan and its strategic and tactical decisions. As one of the first detailed accounts of these decisions, Woodward's book was widely acclaimed. However the book was criticized by Michael Scheuer, former CIA chief of the Bin Laden station, in his book Imperial Hubris for offering a home for government leaks, which he said was harmful to national security. Scheuer said: "After reading Mr. Woodward's Bush at War, it seems to me that the U.S. officials who either approved or participated in passing the information—in documents and via interviews—that is the heart of Mr. Woodward's book, gave an untold measure of aid and comfort to the enemy."
Plan of Attack is a behind-the-scenes account of President Bush's decision to go to war against Iraq. The book's premise is that President Bush planned from early in his presidency to remove Saddam Hussein from power by force, rather than making any serious effort to use diplomacy or other means. The book describes White House deliberations and focuses mainly on President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, NSC Advisor Rice, Secretary of State Powell, General Tommy Franks, and CIA Director Tenet, as well as British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In State of Denial, Woodward examines how the Bush administration managed the Iraq War after the 2003 invasion. Based on interviews with a number of people in the Bush administration (although not with Bush himself), the book makes a number of allegations about the administration, including the accusation that the administration deliberately misstated how the occupation of Iraq was proceeding, claiming that the situation in Iraq was improving, when internal reports and memos distributed between various government agencies, including the White House and the The Pentagon, acknowledged the situation was worsening.
His final book about the Bush administration, the War Within, discusses the debate within the administration about the controversial Iraq "surge" strategy implemented in 2007.
In 2010, Woodward's book about the Obama administration, entitled Obama's Wars, was published. It focuses on the internal debates and divisions within the Obama administration regarding the handling of US involvement in the ongoing Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His 2012 book The Price of Politics is about President Obama and congressional Republican and Democratic leaders’ attempt to restore the American economy and improve the federal government’s fiscal condition in Obama's first term.
Woodward's books are controversial, but are unique for the incredible access that Woodward has to top level government meetings. For some reason many government officials are willing to talk to him. It is this remarkable perspective and level of access that make for such interesting reading.