Power Wars, Charlie Savage
Power Wars, Charlie Savage
2 Rating(s)
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Power Wars
Inside Obama's Post-9/11 Presidency

Author: Charlie Savage

Narrator: Dan Woren

Unabridged: 27 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/03/2015

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage's penetrating investigation of the Obama presidency and the national security state.

Barack Obama campaigned on changing George W. Bush's "global war on terror" but ended up entrenching extraordinary executive powers, from warrantless surveillance and indefinite detention to military commissions and targeted killings. Then Obama found himself bequeathing those authorities to Donald Trump. How did the United States get here?

In Power Wars, Charlie Savage reveals high-level national security legal and policy deliberations in a way no one has done before. He tells inside stories of how Obama came to order the drone killing of an American citizen, preside over an unprecendented crackdown on leaks, and keep a then-secret program that logged every American's phone calls. Encompassing the first comprehensive history of NSA surveillance over the past forty years as well as new information about the Osama bin Laden raid, Power Wars equips readers to understand the legacy of Bush's and Obama's post-9/11 presidencies in the Trump era.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Steven on December 04, 2015

When Barrack Obama was elected president and assumed office in 2009 most people expected that there would be vast changes to America’s pursuit of the war on terror. If one followed Obama’s rhetoric while serving in the state Senate in Illinois, the United States Senate, and during the 2008 president......more

Goodreads review by Neil on May 18, 2016

In this clearly written book, Savage takes on how the Obama Administration has handled contentious legal issues around targeted killing, detention of terror suspects, surveillance, and war powers. The result is a nuanced and fair-minded take on some of the ways in which Obama has expanded some of th......more

Goodreads review by Greg on September 15, 2021

A largely arms-length look at Obama’s executive powers and the national security state. Tons of great detail here excavating out happenings that were only reported years later, and a good overall look at national security law over the course of his presidency. Only downside is the commentary isn’t a......more

Goodreads review by Kent on April 24, 2016

As a non-lawyer I have to say a lot of this was over my head. Still found it a useful and interesting contrast to the previous administration with an clear focus on rule of law (and a lawyer like decision making process) more than civil liberties. Also interesting to observe the shift over the course......more

Goodreads review by Robert on February 26, 2016

A solid journalistic account of the way the Obama administration has addressed the issues of Guantanamo and NSA/CIA/FBI surveillance and privacy. While the book does make clear the distinction between the legalistic approach and the moral approach to human rights, it often veers into long explanatio......more

Quotes

A New York Times Editors' Choice

Named one of the best books of 2015 by ABC News and The Guardian

"Offers a master class in how to think seriously about crucial aspects of the [war on terrorism]. ... comprehensive, authoritative ... anyone truly interested in foreign policy or national security should find it essential and enthralling, thanks to the author's intelligence, objectivity, legwork and literary skill. ... Savage's superb book should stand as an indispensable guide to the debate."—Gideon Rose, New York Times Book Review

Power Wars "will almost certainly stand as the most comprehensive account of the Obama administration's policies, views, theories and bureaucratic battles over national security laws and the legacy of the 2001 attacks. His account is thoughtful and consistently fair-minded... no small achievement."—James Mann, New York Times

"Both the most comprehensive and the most engrossing look at how Obama morphed from a candidate beloved by the civil liberties community into what many saw as a continuation of George W. Bush...could not be more timely."—Trevor Timm, The Guardian

"The most essential explanation of modern-day American national security policy.... Anyone who has followed current events on drone strikes, surveillance, and encryption, and other essential issues at the forefront of modern America--and wants the entire inside baseball play-by-play to go with it--will love this book."—Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica

"Delves deeply into the nooks and crannies of every significant national security debate touching on the intersection of national security and law. The product of prodigious research and interviews with seemingly every player, Savage's book provides a revealing picture of the inner workings of the Obama presidency."—Gabriel Schoenfeld, The Weekly Standard

"The book has much broader appeal than to those in the national security law bubble... [Deeply sourced] is an understatement, as Savage reveals the contents of never-before released documents, memos, and internal deliberations across a variety of topics."—Cully Stimson, Lawfare

"Over the years, Savage has become one of the most knowledgeable and tireless reporters chronicling the civil liberties and war powers controversies under the Obama administration. ... Savage has written a book that will clearly be the comprehensive historical account of these controversies."—Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept

"A rich blow-by-blow account of how and why the Obama administration determined the legality of its war-on-terrorism policies."—Jack Goldsmith, The New Rambler

"It is hard to imagine many journalists capable of writing a book on this topic on the scale, and with the ambition, of this one."—Robert Bauer, Time

"The value that Savage brings to his book is in reporting out how Obama's lawyers, who were often the toughest critics of Bush when they were out of power, wrestled with and ultimately sanctioned this retrenchment."—Eli Lake, Bloomberg View

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