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By His Own Rules: The Story of Donald Rumsfeld
Once considered among the best and brightest of his generation, Donald Rumsfeld was exceptionally prepared by successful careers in politics and business to assume the Pentagon’s top job in 2001. Yet six years later, he left office as the most controversial Defense Secretary since Robert McNamara, widely criticized for his management of the Iraq war and for his difficult r...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
June 23rd 2009
by PublicAffairs
(first published October 27th 2008)
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I waited patiently for my copy of this book for over a year as the publication deadline kept being extended because I wanted to try to understand Donald Rumsfeld. I'd been opposed to the invasion of Iraq, but had been charmed by Rumsfeld in his early briefings as things progressed. His infamous dismissal of "stuff happens" as the looting took hold, though, made me take a second look at him, and as the postwar problems increased, I kept wanting to know how it had all gotten away from ...more
You always have to wonder, when a book is 803 pages, if the author is too vain to accept feedback from an editor. In this case, I think it was just a weak editor. For all the seriousness with which Mr. Graham approaches his subject and as much as he'd probably be disgusted with the comparison ... you have to take his book in the same category as Woodward. Political fiction/gossip/probably some truth to the themes, but essentially a cereal box version of a biography. Rumsfeld is a fascinating cha...more
i have advice about reading this book: skip the intro, enjoy the early years, and skim quotes. i wrote an unconventional review of this book which you can check out here:
http://therumpus.net/2009/07/the-rumpus-...
(the review includes the following one sentence summary)
By His Own Rules, in which a middle class wrestler kid from the Midwest goes to Princeton on scholarship, fails to become a Navy fighter pilot, serves in Congress, learns hardball politics under...more
http://therumpus.net/2009/07/the-rumpus-...
(the review includes the following one sentence summary)
By His Own Rules, in which a middle class wrestler kid from the Midwest goes to Princeton on scholarship, fails to become a Navy fighter pilot, serves in Congress, learns hardball politics under...more
Not sure why I plowed through a 700-page book about a guy I don't like. I guess because he's a native Illinoisan. Actually, some of my impressions of him were not accurate and I understand him a lot better now. I can also see why we got ourselves into such a mess in Iraq. Tragically, thousands of people died needlessly.
I'll save you the time and trouble of reading 700 pages: He's an asshole.
Long and boring but somebody has to do it.
Even though the author did not like him and had his own agenda for writing the book, he could not obfuscate Mr. Rumsfeld's integrity or his drive to improve everything he touched. The man was inspirational.
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