This is the latest book by Bob Woodward, who first entered the American consciousness with All the President’s Men, the story of the Watergate scandal, in 1974. Peril is his 20th book, four with co-authors, including Robert Costa on this book. Both authors are journalists with the Washington Post.
I preordered this book prior to its publication and received it on September 23rd, two days after its official publication date. Over the last twelve days I read this 426-page tome. This is Woodward’s third book on Trump, after Fear: Trump in the White House (2018) and Rage (2020).
Like all of Woodward’s book, the contents are based on extensive interviews with the people involved. In the case of Peril, all the interviews were conducted under the journalist ground rule of “deep background,” which means all the information could be used but the authors would not say who provided it. By corroboration, the book is filled with direct quotes of the protagonists. The two main protagonists, Donald Trump and Joe Biden both declined to be interviewed for this book.
The book’s scope is fairly broad but focuses on a few political issues all of us are familiar with. But this book gives the feeling of being in the room at the time and has a journalistic feel, like all of Woodward’s books. That is, it doesn’t editorialize; the book’s tone in one of a reporter reporting the facts. These facts fill in a lot of details on stories we think we already know.
Coverage goes back to the 2016 election, but there isn’t a lot of time spent on this. There is coverage of some of the Trump presidency, but again, not much, since that has been covered in prior books.
The book’s intensity increases with the 2020 election and the aftermath of Trump not accepting the result. There is a lot on the efforts to overturn the results of the election. This builds up to the armed insurrection incited by Trump on January 6, 2021, and the attack on the capitol.
The interim period between January 6th and the inauguration on January 20th gets particular scrutiny. The hero here is Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who calmed down the Chinese on January 6th when they thought Trump would attack China as a pretense for remaining in office. Milley then organized all parts of the armed forces and police to be sure the inauguration took place and there was a peaceful transition of power.
The last part of the book deals with the early months of the Biden administration and the politics of the deeply divided Congress. They say you don’t want to see the butcher doing his job or the back room of politics and this confirms the latter. The discussion on the Afghanistan withdrawal is worth it alone.
My recommendation? I think this is a terrific book and a must read for anyone interested in American history. It is sure to be the definitive record of this tumultuous period. If you’re into this sort of thing, read it. If you’re a Trump fan, don’t bother, as it isn’t kind to him and it won’t change your mind.
Oddly, there is one funny Seattle connection here. In one passage, General James Mattis referred to Trump’s tendency to wander off during briefings as “Seattle freeway off-ramps to nowhere.”
By the way, the title Peril refers to two periods. The first, which was easy to guess, was the January 6th through 20th period, when the country was certainly in peril. The second, and main, reference is to the period we’re in now.
In 1905 there was a revolution in Russia that failed. But General Milley noted that it led to the successful 1917 revolution that led to the fall of the Czars and the formation of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the 1917 revolution, referred to 1905 as “The Great Dress Rehearsal.” Milley fears that January 6, 2021, could be the dress rehearsal for something in the future that is far worse. That is the real peril.
No comments yet.