The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy - Hardcover

Kessler, Glenn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031236380X ISBN 13: 9780312363802

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2007

Synopsis

In his riveting glimpse into the life of one of the most powerful Secretaries of State in recent years, Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler provides not only a revealing look at Condoleezza Rice but a rich portrait of the Bush administration's controversial foreign policy regime. From her grievous errors in judgment as national security advisor to her notable influence over the president as Secretary of State, Rice has not gone unnoticed during her rise to power. But, as an intensely private person, she has--despite endless media attention--remained a mystery. As the first critical examination of Rice's skills as policy-maker, politician and manager, this definitive biography explains not only her rise to power, but the pivotal role she has played in our nation's history.
 
Full of candor as well as honesty, The Confidante shows unseen moments in Rice's life and of her frequently divisive performance during one of the most tumultuous foreign-policy periods in U.S. history. Drawing on personal interviews with Rice, an intimacy afforded to Kessler as one of the few reporters granted the opportunity to travel with her, Kessler takes readers inside the secret meetings Rice has held with foreign leaders and even her private conversations with President Bush. With access to all of Rice's top aides and sources in many overseas governments, Kessler also provides dramatic new information about one of the most secretive administrations in U.S. history.  He shows how Rice molded herself into the image of a globe-trotting diplomatic super star, negating memories of her past failures. He exposes new details about her secret role in Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, her maneuvers around government bureaucracy to strike a pivotal nuclear-energy deal with India, her persuasion of Bush to support a dramatic gesture to Iran, her failure to prevent the North Korean nuclear test, and her struggle to contain the devastating war between Israel and Lebanon. This brilliantly written book reveals not only her public and private humiliation of foreign officials but also how her charm and grace have been successful assets in repairing fractured relations overseas.
 
Condoleezza Rice remains today and in the future one of the most alluring, controversial, and ultimately influential decision makers in the United States. With this captivating work, Kessler shows what traits could solidify her shot at greatness or what cracks in her hard veneer could send her career hurtling to ruin.

About this title

About the Author

GLENN KESSLER is a diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post and has been recipient of numerous awards, including two shared Pulitzer Prizes. Kessler, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has reported from dozens of countries and also has covered the White House and Congress. He is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and lives in McLean, Virginia.

Reviews

At the end of President George W. Bush's first term, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was prepared to leave politics and return to an academic post at Stanford University before she was drafted by Bush to be secretary of state. Two years later, polls showed American voters regarded her as the most powerful woman in the country. In this gripping and intelligent account, Washington Post correspondent Kessler chronicles those two years, drawing on his firsthand experiences traveling with Rice as well as an impressive array of documents and interviews. Kessler organizes the book by region, vividly dramatizing Rice's travels and negotiations overseas—the chapter including her visits to Khartoum and Darfur is a standout—while providing thoughtful analysis and historical background to put these vignettes in context. Kessler praises Rice for a number of successes, including her role in weakening a secret CIA prison system in Europe, but he also criticizes her failure to provide a coherent foreign policy vision and her weakness at implementation and follow-up. This balanced, detailed text offers invaluable insight into Rice's rise to power, though its exclusive focus on foreign policy may limit its appeal. (Sept.)
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With her long relationship with the Bush family (having served in the previous Bush administration) and ideological sympathy with the current President Bush, Rice has gained a position as trusted confidante. Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Kessler, who has traveled extensively with Secretary of State Rice, explores her career, personality, and relationship with Bush and other members of his administration. Drawing on interviews with Rice, he presents a portrait of a steely and forceful woman, capable of great charm, with the savvy to stand up to powerful political figures at home and abroad. Although Kessler examines her background for clues to her outlook on race, the book is predominantly focused on Rice's triumphs and foibles in foreign relations. He examines the policies she supported as national security advisor that later came back to haunt her as secretary of state. He offers details of Rice's involvement in tense negotiations with North Korea and Iran regarding nuclear weapons, efforts to encourage greater democracy—particularly for women—in the Middle East, and negotiations of a truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. She had agreed to take the position on the condition that the Bush administration would work toward creating a Palestinian state, a process that she undermined while she served as national security advisor and one that would continue to elude her. Finally, he explores her management style, lack of a coherent foreign policy vision, and desperate efforts to save Bush's foreign policy legacy and her own. Bush, Vanessa

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Confidante

KEY PERSONNEL

AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT

Condoleezza Rice, SECRETARY OF STATE

Robert B. Zoellick, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE (until July 2006)

Philip D. Zelikow, COUNSELOR (until January 2007)

Jim Wilkinson, SENIOR ADVISOR (until July 2006 )

Brian F. Gunderson, CHIEF OF STAFF

John B. Bellinger III, LEGAL ADVISER

R. Nicholas Burns, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Robert Joseph, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (until February 2007)

Karen Hughes, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

John R. Bolton, U.S. PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS (until December 2006)

Christopher R. Hill, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS

 

C. David Welch, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS

Sean McCormack, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS

AT THE WHITE HOUSE AND PENTAGON

President George W. Bush

Vice President Richard B. Cheney

Donald H. Rumsfeld, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (until December 2006)

Stephen R. Hadley, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Elliott Abrams, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FOR GLOBAL DEMOCRACY STATEGY

Michael J. Green, SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR ASIA AFFAIRS (until December 2005)

OVERSEAS

Jack Straw, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY (until May 2006)

Margaret Beckett, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY (after May 2006)

Sergey Lavrov, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Philippe Douste-Blazy, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER

Tzipi Livni, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER

Saud al-Faisal, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Tang Jiaxuan, CHINESE STATE COUNCILOR

THE CONFIDANTE. Copyright © 2007 by Glenn Kessler.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031236380X
• ISBN 13: 9780312363802
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304