Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet

by James Mann

Book Overview

When George W. Bush campaigned for the White House, he was such a novice in foreign policy that he couldn?t name the president of Pakistan. But he was advised by a group that called themselves the Vulcans?a group of men and one woman with long and shared experience in government, dating back to the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and first Bush administrations. After returning to power in 2001, the Vulcans?including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670032999
• ISBN13: 9780670032990
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 426 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

objective--sympathetic yet critical and honest

James Mann's Rise of the Vulcans is a fascinating group history of six of the major players in the Bush administration's foreign policy: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Armitage. Going to the back of the book, I see that Mann had first-hand input into his research from all of the above except Cheney and Rumsfeld, and the quality of the result is extremely high. It is a sympathetic yet objective portrayal that gives no hint of its author's political views. It points out arguments and evidence in support of Vulcans' views, as well as contradictions within them, such as Rice's published claim (in Foreign Affairs) that Iraq was no threat (p. 259) and the Bush administration's position on North Korea (p. 346). It also points out conflicts between Vulcans' predictions and reality, such as Wolfowitz's prediction that America's allies from the Gulf War would all fall in line if the U.S. attacked Iraq alone (p. 237). Mann also points out the clashes within the group, mainly between Powell/Armitage and the rest--with Powell going as far as to refer to them as "right-wing nuts" (p. 260, referring mainly to Cheney and Wolfowitz). The book is filled with fascinating details, such as Wolfowitz's prescient speech about a new Pearl Harbor, given as a commencement address at West Point in 2001 (p. 291), Bush's giving his OK to Pakistan's becoming a dictatorship (p. 300), the government's plan in the annual Nuclear Posture Review to use small nuclear devices to combat terrorism (p. 314)--which would seem to me to create more and bigger problems than it would solve, and Bush's nickname "Pootie Poot" for Vladimir Putin (p. 288). The book was published in 2004 and is quite up-to-date, only missing some minor recently uncovered details such as Rumsfeld's calling for an attack on Iraq on September 11, 2001.

An Experienced Team

The title of this book could have been The Gangs All Here. The author details out how the major players in the Bush administration foreign policy arm primarily come from the same conservative and some would save aggressive, illogical family. This group has been together, at least in the service of a Republican administration, since the Nixon - Ford administrations and are poster children for consistency in thought. The author does a wonderful job in detailing out who the members of the Bush Team are, at least in regards to defense and foreign policy. I was actually surprised at how lively and interesting the book was. I was a bit concerned that the book would be 50% dull biographies of this guy or that guy's college and early work life. Not much of that blandness was to be found. Instead I really had a hard time putting the book down. It is just an engaging and easy to read book. So does the author really help the reader to understand the players involved? Definitely so in my opinion. There are no touchy feely psychoanalysis sections, but just a great detailed history of what these people have done in the service of the country and how they have acted and thought in the past. I like to think that if this book would have been written before 2000, that I could have read it and been able to predict some of the moves team Bush have made, because the author does such a good job in detailing out the key players. Sure the book covers a lot of the Iraq debate, but there is a wealth of information on the China incident in 2000 and a lot of back ground on the ABM treaty. You almost wonder if it bothers public officials to have books that are this well written detail out all the moves they have made, I would think it makes it a bit more difficult to shade past mistakes. If you are looking to get a good understanding of the Bush administration and want to read a book that skips the partisan and over done rants of the anti Bush crowd then this is a book for you. I could not detect much, if any bias in the reporting. It sure seamed to me that the reporting was straight on and as fair as possible. The author doles out as much praise as he does condemnation, and it is all backed up with detailed analysis. Overall this is just a wonderful book. My only criticism, and a very slight one at that, was that I felt the author did not do himself justice in the conclusion and tried to hurry it along. That point aside this is a must read to understand Bush 2.

Necessary information for an informed voter

While reading this book, I have been tempted to write a review midstream on several occasions. Having finished it last weekend, I was glad I waited. "Rise of the Vulcans" provides and essential background on those who currently affect our foreign policy. For me it complemented Suskind's "Price of Loyalty". The key players are followed throught their government careers as well as some reference to their civil careers when the Republicans are out of power. (Rumsfeld as a CEO would be "an acquired taste" in my world.) Mann also discusses the key influences on this group from academic to political figures. Winston Churchill has been a strong influence, however I had the feeling that the influence never went beyond "The Gathering Storm". He is cited for having been a Tory, yet he began his career in the Liberal Party and was a strong proponent of income redistribution via taxes. One of the things I observed in this is that once the cold war ended, this group was no longer in their area of expertise. They are intelligent, but perfectly capable of presenting speculation as the absolute truth. The last few chapters went very quickly for me. Here the group is required to adapt to the new era, and it isn't clear to me that they have done that well. I could not read the conclusions as being an endorsement of this group. George W. Bush is a minor character in all of this, however I did find his juvenile habit of "cutesy-poo" nicknames disturbing here. One could speculate how this group's hero, Winston Churchill (a well know master of insult), might have reacted to an equivalent of "Pootie Poot" which he has given Vladimir Putin.

More foreign policy fiber than a grapenut

Buy this book! I know that you will enjoy it. I believe this to be the most comprehensive book about the Bush cabinet now in print. Reading this book will help you to understand the philosophy of the current administrations views of their foreign policy and where they originated from. Mr. Mann has done a remarkable job bringing each of the individuals in to focus and rounding out their history. He has done so clearly and concisely. That was important to me due to the number of individuals in this book that are brought out in detail. The manner in which he writes about each of the Vulcans avoids confusion that may have resulted if this work had been handled in another fashion, such as bringing all of the members out at the same time at the beginning of the book, for example. Instead, he introduces each member and gives their history that helps to avoid that confusion. I was impressed by the amount of research that went into the book. Mr. Mann clearly knows what he is writing about. He is comfortable enough with the material to make his book highly enjoyable to read. His thesis is clearly and objectively written and avoids a politicized view. In a market filled with political points of view ranging from the "Bush is God" to the "Bush is Satan," it was a joy and a pleasure to find, read, and to be stimulated by this very insightful book. Hats off to James Mann to a great book. If you want a book that explains the Bush theories and goals of their foreign policy this is the book for you. I also enjoyed Bob Woodwards books Bush At War and Plan of Attack. James Manns' book Rise of the Vulcans goes into far more detail while at the same time being a great read.

Superb insight into the shaping of American policy

The Vulcans is the name the 6 key figures of the Bush Administration foreign policy have chosen for themselves: an allusion to Vulcan, the crippled armaments maker of the Gods, who defended heaven.This is a really excellent work of contemporary history. Journalism, I think someone said, is history's first pass. Well as a first pass, this book is meticulously researched and fairly argued. It is also very well written and tells a gripping story.It makes the seemingly incomprehensible and incoherent aspects of the Bush foreign policy (at least to a European) entirely credible and logical. Nor is it unsympathetic to the shapers of that policy: Powell/Armitage at the State Department, Rumsfeld/ Wolfowitz at Defence, Rice and Cheney in the White House. It links their personal biographies and life experiences to the policy choices they have made: their desire to see America in the post Vietnam era strong and unencumbered again.Armitage in particular comes across as quite a compelling guy. The dedicated Navy man and hard-living covert warrior from Vietnam, who dedicates his family life to adopting and helping Vietnamese refugees, his career is nearly destroyed by Ross Perot and Iran/Contra and he rises again through his friendship with Powell. A man who believes more than anything that America should not abandon its allies. I haven't enjoyed a book about contemporary American policy as much since Fred Kaplan's The Wizards of Armageddon about Bernard Brodie, Albert Wohlstetter, Herman Kahn and the dawn of the atomic age.Skip all the other political potboilers this season and spend the time with this book. The student of American politics, American history and the curious observer of American foreign policy will find much here to digest and ponder.Whoever wins the presidency the future of American foreign policy will be shaped by these men (and 1 woman) and their actions and understanding how they got us to where we are will be vitally important.