I've come to the conclusion that Woodward's books are, increasingly, spin. This one, nonetheless, was better than some of the previous. But one has to remember that everyone he interviews, knows, going in, what they are doing. And, in this case, several were asked/ordered to do so by Bush. Rumsfeld, for one, is quite clear about that. So there's more than a little incentive to put the best collective face on it all.
So the negatives are important.
And one more point in Woodward's favor, his interview technique. A famous sociologist, Morris Janowitz, who wrote some books on the military, was infamous in the discipline for his harassing form of interviewing. He came to the conclusion the best interviewer was someone who knew at least as much about the subject, if not more, than the person being interviewed. He would then argue with the person being interviewed. And Janowitz was, by reputation, not a shrinking violet.
Lots of laughter about that style in the discipline but Janowitz argued it got the job done.
Woodward does some of the same in his interviews, even with Bush. Produces some interesting outcomes. |
