The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 by Ron Suskind
This is the scariest political thriller I’ve read in years — scary because it recounts how the Bush administration created their plan to fight the so-called “War on Terror”. Based on Dick Cheney’s conviction that we take out anyone suspected of potential aggression even if there’s but a one percent chance that what we suspect is true, we end up with two wars in the Middle East in an effort to root out jihadists. This book reads like a novel but sets in like a plague. It follows a cast of characters who have all become household names through day-to-day meetings, as well as the constant battle between the Departments of State and Defense and the various intelligence agencies leading up to the wars. Behind it all is the belligerent, pugnacious and highly secretive Vice President, with a boss in so far over his head that you find yourself gripping the book cover harder and harder and hoping you’ll wake up.

–Sean Coakley