The Architect: Karl Rove and the Dream of Absolute Power

President George W. Bush dubbed Karl Rove “The Architect” for his skill in creating an unprecedented campaign and fund-raising machine. But Rove’s ambitions have always been far more sweeping—to build a right-wing dynasty that can dominate American politics for decades. Rove’s master plan imagines a political system so controlled by Republicans that it is resisted only by symbolic opposition.

In The Architect, James Moore and Wayne Slater, the bestselling authors of Bush’s Brain, return with an even more penetrating examination of Rove, his sweeping agenda, and the price he may have to pay for his audacity. Drawing on their decades-long study of Rove, they provide a rarely seen view of the politics of absolute power in Washington—how it is acquired, expanded, and turned to startling ends. Specifically, they unveil how Rove:

• Used lobbyist Jack Abramoff as a cat’s-paw to manage unruly legislators

• Energetically led the antigay marriage movement while protecting a family secret that made his stance bizarrely cynical

• Turned Christian churches into a gigantic vote delivery system, despite privately admitting to being a nonbeliever

• Repeatedly leaked information to harm political opponents, making him the man investigators most wanted to talk to when they began probing the Plame affair

• Was intimately involved in an international disinformation scheme to lead America to war

The Architect is an eye-opening and frequently shocking report on the maneuverings of a brilliant but morally ambiguous political strategist, and the first-ever in-depth look at a political operative striving to absolutely control the future—even if he risks losing everything.



Also available as an eBook


From the Hardcover edition.

James Moore is the coauthor, with Wayne Slater, of the bestselling Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential and the author of Bush’s War for Reelection. Formerly an Emmy Award–winning television news correspondent, he has traveled extensively with every presidential campaign since 1976.

Wayne Slater is a senior political writer and an award-winning reporter for The Dallas Morning News. Previously, he was the Austin bureau chief of the paper for fifteen years and has covered state and national politics since 1984.


From the Hardcover edition.