Author(s): Robert Draper

Current Affairs & Politics

Dead Certain is a story told in six sections. Beginning with an immersion into Bush the nascent politician (entitled "Baptism"), we see in "Through Our Tears" a mandate-less new President evincing both collegiality and defensiveness as he pursues his conservative agenda. "Dark City On A Hill" describes the contentiousness that attends the roll-up to Iraq and the queasy slide from Mission Accomplished to the occupation of a broken nation.The final section, "A Laying On Of Hands," finds a once-swaggering presidency desperately moving from one gambit to another in an effort to right its sagging agenda, culminating in the 2006 midterm elections that decide the fate of a hobbled administration. Far from being a retelling of well-known events, Dead Certain plumbs both the natural drama and the behind-the-scenes granularity of George W. Bush's episodic presidency. It will be regarded as a classic, inside account of this troubled presidency.