Based on exclusive interviews with President Bush, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and other key figures in the administration, this volume offers a never-before-seen glimpse at how the president operates and how he's influenced the shifting sentiments of the country.

This volume incisively analyzes the foreign policy of George W. Bush. Examining the legacy of the forty-third President, author Ilan Peleg explains the complex factors underlying the Bush Doctrine: neoconservative ideology, real and perceived challenges to US world supremacy, Bush's personality, the White House's unique decision-making process, and the impact of September 11. Peleg argues that in its shift from deterrence and containment to prevention and preemption, from multilateral leadership to unilateral militarism, and from consensual realism to radical neoconservatism, the Bush administration has effected a true revolution in the foundational goals, as well as in the means, of US foreign policy. Peleg also offers a series of judicious recommendations for future administrations, including the reestablishment of a bipartisan consensus on foreign policy, increased emphasis on multilateralism, the demilitarization of US foreign policy, renewed focus on the resolution of serious regional conflicts, and more realistic expectations about noncoerced democratization around the world.

From the fall of the Soviet Union to the Gulf War, the presidency of George H. W. Bush dealt with foreign policy challenges that would cement the post-Cold War order for a generation. This book brings together a distinguished collection of foreign policy practitioners – career and political – who participated in the unfolding of international events as part the Bush administration to provide insider perspective by the people charged with carrying them out. They shed new light on and analyze President Bush’s role in world events during this historic period, his style of diplomacy, the organization and functioning of his foreign policy team, the consequences of his decisions, and his leadership skills. At a time when the old American-led post-World War II order is eroding or even collapsing, this book reminds readers of the difference American leadership in the world can make and how a president can manage a highly successful foreign policy.

Certainly all presidents and prime ministers have engaged in spin to a certain extent, but in the past the media - and the public - checked the extent to which our leaders were able to fudge the truth. However, President Bush has repeatedly used deception, told outright lies, and rewritten history to sell his policy agenda. And thanks to one of the most aggressive public relations teams ever assembled, he has been able to get away with it since he began his campaign. In the wake of September 11, the administration has taken its questionable conduct to a new level by attempting to intimidate critics and has tried to connect virtually every policy initiative to the war on terrorism. Bush has used the same tactics to mislead the public on a wide range of other major policy initiatives, from the environment to homeland security to Social Security - all with little scepticism from the media.

As the controversial presidency of George W. Bush draws to a close, this work provides the first dispassionate, even-handed assessment of Bush's years in office. Widely respected scholar and author Steven E. Schier goes beyond the perspective of contemporary political commentary, and draws on wide-ranging literature about presidential history and strategy to carefully identify both the unique and the familiar aspects of George W. Bush's presidency. Panorama of a Presidency examines Bush's innovative electoral and governing strategies, ambitious foreign and domestic policy initiatives, and the bitterly divisive consequences of his mode of governance. As the first analysis to place the George W. Bush presidency in a broad historical and theoretical context, the book will be an essential foundation for any future studies on the topic.