I haven't read these yet but they're on my wish list.
From the Inside Flap
The man in the cockpit fighting the war on terror.
When terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon, he was there-helping carry the wounded to safety. And he's been there-leading the war on terror, directing its operations around the world in both open and covert missions, and bluntly focusing on one primary goal: killing terrorists. He is Donald Rumsfeld. His great fear was a second Pearl Harbor. When it happened on September 11, 2001, he led the charge to make sure it never happens again.
This book takes you inside Rumsfeld's Pentagon, detailing the far-sighted, courageous decisions he has made to enable our military to fight this most unconventional of wars. Rowan Scarborough, veteran national security reporter for the Washington Times, has had access to Rumsfeld himself as well as to numerous never-before-released documents that show not only how Rumsfeld is fighting the war, but how he is fighting the bureaucracy and remaking the American military, shifting the focus from the ingrained "can't-do" bureaucracy to the special operations Green Berets, SEALs, and others who live by "can-do."
Many of Rumsfeld's hard-won victories are revealed here for the first time. Scarborough interviewed scores of Rumsfeld's friends and colleagues, including former president Gerald Ford, economist Arthur Laffer, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and many military personnel. He also provides details of some highly secretive Pentagon operations-carried out under Rumsfeld's supervision by groups that most Americans don't even know exist. In addition, Scarborough offers an enlightening comparison between Rumsfeld's decisiveness and willingness to act and declare a war on terror and the Clinton administration's lassitude, distraction, and treatment of terrorism as a law enforcement issue during al Qaeda's astonishingly rapid rise in the 1990s.
Scarborough concludes that history will surely judge Rumsfeld as "one of America's most important defense leaders." Rumsfeld's War reveals why-and how much of the bold new military strategy and vision that we are implementing now in the war on terror we owe to one brilliant, brave, and tenacious man: Donald Rumsfeld.
About the Author ROWAN SCARBOROUGH has covered the Pentagon for the Washington Times for fifteen years and is one of the most respected-and newsbreaking-defense reporters in the country, with unparalleled sources in Department of Defense. Scarborough came to the Times after stints at Defense Week, the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal and the Salisbury (Md.) Daily Times. He graduated summa cum laude from the School of Journalism at the University of Maryland and served in the Navy as a hospital corpsman.
Book Description
The making of an American icon
The sudden rise of Donald Rumsfeld to political stardom has been one of the most unexpected developments of the last few years. When he was appointed secretary of defense, no one foresaw that he would become the most prominent and influential member of President George W. Bush's cabinet. But as the main architect of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Rumsfeld moved into a central position as a policymaker. And through his televised briefings, he also moved into the spotlight, where he won the almost worshipful admiration of millions of Americans by the extraordinary directness, agility, and confident poise he showed in handling the press.
Drawing on her long acquaintance with Rumsfeld, a wealth of documents, and interviews with him and his family, friends, and colleagues, Midge Decter provides riveting accounts of the many milestones marking the journey Rumsfeld made from the suburbs of Chicago to the Pentagon. There is the insurgent young congressman; the head of the Office of Economic Opportunity; the ambassador to NATO; the White House chief of staff; the youngest ever secretary of defense; the successful corporate executive; and, finally, the spectacular second tour of duty as secretary of defense under Bush.
As this remarkable story unfolds, Decter brings her knowledge of American culture to bear on the question of why so many Americans have responded so fervently to Rumsfeld. In answering, she points to the values of the Midwest in which he was born and bred and the powerful appeal they still exert in spite of how old-fashioned they seem in certain circles.
Decter's fascinating account of the life and career of Donald Rumsfeld, lavishly illustrated with photographs from the private collection of the Rumsfeld family, is, then, essential reading for anyone who wishes to become better acquainted with a key figure in public life -- a figure whose rise to stardom sheds new light on the current condition of the American people.