| View Larger Image | The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals | Paperbackby Jane Mayer (Author)
| List Price: | $15.95 | | Price: | $10.85 | | You Save: | $5.10 (32%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Edition: | Reprintth Edition | | Page Count: | 432 Pages | | Publication Date: | May 05, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 19,655th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780307456298
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
One of The New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year National BestsellerWith a New AfterwordNational Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A Best Book of the Year: Salon, Slate, The Economist, The Washington Post, Cleveland Plain-DealerThe Dark Side is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world—decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. In spellbinding detail, Jane Mayer relates the impact of these decisions by which key players, namely Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, exploited September 11 to further a long held agenda to enhance presidential powers to a degree never known in U.S. history, and obliterate Constitutional protections that define the very essence of the American experiment. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 141 reviews)
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Dick Cheney's Regime Exposed by Milo Ippolito (Atlanta)  5 Stars
October 02, 2009
The amazing thing to me is that this book laid it all out long before the media reported behind-the-scenes details of the torture program story. The secret memos, secret prisons, phantom flights to drop off suspects at foreign torture chambers, etc. Incredible detail on Cheney's above the law shadow government that was responsible for all this. The truth is still coming out in bits and pieces today. But if you had read this book, you'd be saying:"I already knew that." And your stomach would turn in disgust.
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A truly disturbing book by lawguy20 (Los Angeles, Ca) 5 Stars
September 24, 2009
I have to admit, i ordered this when the top news story was water boarding but then lost interest in reading the book after the hype died down. Yet, I forced myself to start reading....and I'm glad I did! WOW! I could not put this book down. It was deeply troubling but informative to the point of exhaustion. I had no idea how corrupt the Bush administration was, specifically Cheney. The only criticism I have is that way too many names were mentioned. I know the author wanted to be thorough but I found all the names confusing at times. Other than that, great book and definitely recommended.
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It Will Make Your Blood Boil... by D. Blizzard (New York City, NY, USA) 5 Stars
September 03, 2009
The Dark Side, that name conjures up many images from the Bush presidency. Unlike many books that dealt with this subject, this one seems largely free of political bias and presents information in a clear, neutral way. From the very beginning, when 9/11 happened, you get the sense that something bad was about to happen, and indeed it does. The political disaster that was going to grip Washington, and the United States, was a kind of perfect storm that The Dark Side examines. Not only did the administration throw away core ideals that have existed since the Revolution, but it seems as though many of the players involved were just waiting for an opportunity to instituate an imperial presidency. While reading this book, I experienced anger, sadness, and shock at what our leaders were willing to do. For all of this to happen, many pieces had to co-exist at the same time, such as a national disaster that led to reactionary, not rational, decisions, cronyism, incompetence, lawyers that argued on behalf of their client and not the law, an easily manipulated president, a Congress with powers similar to that of the Byzantine Senate, and high-ranking government officials who wanted a monarchical executive. This is a must read for anyone interested in post 9/11 politics.
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The most searing indictment of just about any U.S. administration by Mark S. Mandell 5 Stars
August 12, 2009
This book easily "takes the cake" for its thoroughly researched and documented research into the topic of the troublesome, ethically bankrupt machinnations of the Bush administration in its hyperaggressive prosecution of "The War on Terror." Any reasonable person of good conscience reading it would be appalled to learn of the massively callous disregard of detainee's rights that continued in the unabated manner it did. To call this behavior "revolting" might be a supreme understatement.
I can remember that several years ago, a woman whom I work with in my business(an immigrant from Nazi Germany)commenting rather seriously that the top officials in the Bush administration were akin to the top officials in the Nazi Party and I more or less cringed at hearing the comparison. In fact, given her consistently left wing diatribes I couldn't even take it all that seriously. But having read "The Dark Side" I can see the clear cut parallel she was alluding to.
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The Truth Commission is in this book by T. ORourke (Pennsylvania) 5 Stars
August 05, 2009
Jane Mayer is a great American. We need more like her and far less like the subjects of her terrific book. This book is scrupulously sourced and researched and, unfortunately, all too true. As a companion to Seymour Hersh's work and the documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side", it exposes all everyone would need to know to indict many of our country's recent leaders for war crimes related to the "War on Terror" and the prisoners (the majority of whom are innocent) in its crossfire. Clearly the worst offenders are Dick Cheney and the omnipresent and equally evil David Addington, who are so misguided in their self-righteousness and hubris as to be comical if such terrible things weren't done at their behest. I don't know what a life of such pure and unbending ideology would be like, but I am sure the leaders of the Taliban and Al Qaida are some who would. One of life's great twists is that what bothers you most about others is usually a problem you possess. If the terrorists were reasonable, we wouldn't be talking about how many civilians they've slaughtered, and if Cheney, Addington, and to a lesser extent, John Yoo, were reasonable, America would be far less hypocritical and much more respected throughout the world (and a lot of very nice, young, brave men and women would still be alive).
You won't want to read this book unless you really dislike what has happened and want to be able to converse about it with more truth on your side than others you know, but EVERYONE should have to read this book and see the movie mentioned above so this won't ever happen again. Like whole grains and exercise, it is good for you and will help you live a better life.
While she addresses it briefly, the last piece of the puzzle about torture is an account of the long term consequences to the torturers as a result of "following orders." I hope someday this will be a bigger part of the discussion (no one should be tortured, but no one should be ordered to torture, either), though I hope the utility of torture to gain information rarely has to be discussed anymore.
Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib (P.S.)Taxi To the Dark Side
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