Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council

"An unprecedented look behind the scenes at the "most powerful committee in the history of the world" - the men and women closest to the president of the United States who make America's decisions affecting war and peace, who are the architects of everything from covert operations to market bailouts, from secret negotiations to combating terrorism. Running the World draws back the curtain on this shadowy world and in so doing reveals never-before-known details of the very human interactions that have shaped recent history, the rivalries and petty jealousies, the ambition, the moments of vision and greatness, the drama and the humor that suffuse the everyday events and great moments that marked the six decades since the end of World War II." The book is based on 130 exclusive interviews with many of the best-known and the most significant figures to have played a central role in shaping America's national security and foreign policies, including Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Madelaine Albright, Brent Scowcroft, Robert Rubion, Larry Summers, Tony Lake, William Perry, James Woolsey, and scores of others. The importance of the National Security Council, and all the formal, informal, highly visible and secret groups associated with it, has never been clearer than it is today. David Rothkopf depicts with an eye for both personal detail and historical implications the real events from which today's headlines and Tom Clancy novels are drawn - and includes, for the first time, an in-depth look at the inner workings of the Bush administration from many of its most important current and former players.