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The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power Hardcover – Deckle Edge, January 13, 2009

by David E. Sanger (Author)

43 customer reviews

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Readers of The New York Times know David Sanger as one of the most trusted correspondents in Washington, one to whom presidents, secretaries of state, and foreign leaders talk with unusual candor. Now, with a historian’s sweep and an insider’s eye for telling detail, Sanger delivers an urgent intelligence briefing on the world America faces.

In a riveting narrative, The Inheritance describes the huge costs of distraction and lost opportunities at home and abroad as Iraq soaked up manpower, money, and intelligence capabilities. The 2008 market collapse further undermined American leadership, leaving the new president with a set of challenges unparalleled since Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the Oval Office.

Sanger takes readers into the White House Situation Room to reveal how Washington penetrated Tehran’s nuclear secrets, leading President Bush, in his last year, to secretly step up covert actions in a desperate effort to delay an Iranian bomb. Meanwhile, his intelligence chiefs made repeated secret missions to Pakistan as they tried to stem a growing insurgency and cope with an ally who was also aiding the enemy–while receiving billions in American military aid. Now the new president faces critical choices: Is it better to learn to live with a nuclear Iran or risk overt or covert confrontation? Is it worth sending U.S. forces deep into Pakistani territory at the risk of undermining an unstable Pakistani government sitting on a nuclear arsenal? It is a race against time and against a new effort by Islamic extremists–never before disclosed–to quietly infiltrate Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.

“Bush wrote a lot of checks,” one senior intelligence official told Sanger, “that the next president is going to have to cash.”

The Inheritance takes readers to Afghanistan, where Bush never delivered on his promises for a Marshall Plan to rebuild the country, paving the way for the Taliban’s return. It examines the chilling calculus of North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il, who built actual weapons of mass destruction in the same months that the Bush administration pursued phantoms in Iraq, then sold his nuclear technology in the Middle East in an operation the American intelligence apparatus missed. And it explores how China became one of the real winners of the Iraq war, using the past eight years to expand its influence in Asia, and lock up oil supplies in Africa while Washington was bogged down in the Middle East. Yet Sanger, a former foreign correspondent in Asia, sees enormous potential for the next administration to forge a partnership with Beijing on energy and the environment.

At once a secret history of our foreign policy misadventures and a lucid explanation of the opportunities they create, The Inheritance is vital reading for anyone trying to understand the extraordinary challenges that lie ahead.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Inheritance reaffirms Thomas Jefferson's belief that for the American democracy to work there must be an informed citizenry. That means great reporting by great reporters is always required. David Sanger's book epitomizes the requirement. He goes through the world of challenges and opportunities that lie dead as well as ahead for the United States globally. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and China are on the list. So are matters nuclear and economic, among others. Sanger's telling is full of behind-the-door stories that read like Alan Furst spy novels. This is a superior work of journalism.” —Jim Lehrer

“One of the finest journalists of our time, David Sanger tells the surprising stories of crucial, heretofore-hidden events in Washington and around the globe that have culminated in the unprecedented world crisis that now faces us. For the incoming President and the rest of us, Sanger's important book provides both understanding and hope. The Inheritance should be essential reading. " —Michael Beschloss

“Somehow, David Sanger has broken through the secrecy and the government gobbledygook to tell us how we got to where we are and the choices this leaves for the next administration. He reveals inside stuff we have never heard in detail that will surprise and sometimes shock, yet he has framed it all in language the specialist will appreciate and the layman can understand. One of the most important books of the year.” —Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent, CBS News

About the Author

DAVID E. SANGER is the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times. In twenty-six years at the Times, he has been a member of two teams that won the Pulitzer Prize and has received numerous awards for investigative, national security, and White House reporting. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two sons.

Hardcover: 528 pages
Publisher: Crown; First Edition edition (January 13, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307407926
ISBN-13: 978-0307407924
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.8 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 43 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,543,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3210 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Security
- #30579 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics
- #105398 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences

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Bill

Not for amateurs

December 2, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I'm only part way through this tomb. I never realized, and I think most folks not associated with our State or Defense departments would have any idea of the intrigue associated with attempting to work with Iran. If you are into spy thrillers, Tom Clancy and the like, this is even better. Some of the countries our State Department has to work with are - well- let's say pretty bad folks. Not a job for the faint-of-heart.

A good book!

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Hugh Claffey

Major Criticism of George W's legacy.

December 9, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I read this book back to back with Sanger's latest `Confront and Conceal', both cover the same Foreign Threats/National Security area. The Inheritance was written in 2009, approx 12 months after Obama came to power. It discusses Nuclear proliferation among Iran, Korea, Pakistan with some mentions of Afghanistan and China. It is enormously disparaging of GW Bush's foreign policy legacy - specifically that the Bush White House invaded Iraq chasing weapons that didn't exist, while 100 miles the other side of the Syrian border, the Koreans were helping the Syrians to develop a nuclear facility (the Israeli's destroyed the site in 2007). Sanger tells us that because of the legacy of Iraq, no `pre-emption' in other areas was possible and therefore North Korea was allowed to break out and develop nuclear weapons, that Iran resumed its efforts (having stopped in 2003) and that Pakistan kept playing a double game as the US's ally and a nuclear proliferator. Sanger shows how Afghanistan and the US military there were starved of attention and resources during the Iraq conflict and that China was largely ignored, and allowed to develop its own threats.

There is extreme frustration with Bush's choice to invade Iraq, and Bush's lack of strategy - the implication being that he acceded to everything his Sec of State for Defence asked for - and his loyalty to his team even when they were visibly failing. In so far as I can see a recommendation that Sanger puts forward - and in fairness, this is a report of what happened, not a policy proposal - he seems to fault the US for choosing the wrong targets and then being insufficiently ready to pre-empt (ie. Bomb) the real proliferators - Iran, Korea, Pakistan.

I'm not sure that his blanket criticism is entirely warranted. Given that most of the worlds intelligence agencies believed that Sadam has weapons of mass destruction, its not clear that anyone advised against the Iraq invasion. It appears to me that up until the resistance to the invasion became widespread, that US military power had a cautionary effect on Iran - though not Korea- so it seems to me that the inability - perhaps unwillingness - of US commanders to pacify Iraq post-invasion was the key strategic mistake made in the war on Terror. By allowing the insurgency to destroy US morale, it emboldened Iran.
The country I knew least about before reading this book was Pakistan, its nuclear arsenal and its unstable political environment are described here. It is estimated to have 100 nuclear bombs and the state of control over these devices leaves the US with nightmares. It is truly hard to believe that the county is as unstable and uncivilised as described in the book.

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paul

This was an excellent book that provided a perspective not often

July 23, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This was an excellent book that provided a perspective not often. It also explained why N.Korea was able to advance their nuclear program.

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Paulo Serra

Helpful information to better understand President Obama's choices

November 18, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

We should thank Mr. Sanger for having taken the time and effort to analyse all information he has collected to produce a very interesting view of current world challenges. The book is very well documented, and helps building a picture of the complex reality we live today. The reader can agree or not with the opinions of the author about the reasoning of the previous administration, but in any case the book provides a lot of useful information for someone to build his own opinion.
There is no need to say that the service from Amazon was perfect and I have received the book in France in less time than it would have taken to have a French version available (without meaning that I wold have preferred to read the translation).

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Brilliant - Pulitzer Potential Here

March 6, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I couldn't put it down --- it takes discipline and commitment to buy a 462 page volume on any subject. However, the manner in which David Sanger crafts this splendid piece of insightful, stimulating literature is food for the soul of a citizen, as well as the intellect of those desiring further enlightenment about the world we inhabit. Riveting. Distinctly addicting. Intriguing.

I bought one for a friend. Her reaction after the first few chapters is the same as mine was...more. Sanger provides a perspective that one simply cannot obtain by reading widely and consuming sound bites. He weaves a mosaic that allows one to see a picture beyond the one he has painted.

Great works of literature spawn even more questions and robust dialogue about the necessity to strategically appreciate the nuances of "where do we go from here" or "Now what?" Armed with relationships, experience, access and sources that only a respected veteran journalist can acquire, Sanger gracefully shares the depth and breadth of a perspective that only one equipped with these hard earned credentials can accomplish.

A precious gift that every American should read to assist in garnering an appreciation of the challenges confronting this country, as a new administration is baptized into the depths of a new world reality.

Like I said - distinct Pulitzer potential here.

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