Fear

Reviews

'In the worldwide capital of leaks and anonymous dishing that is Washington, secrets can be almost impossible to keep. But somehow over the past 19 months, the fact that America’s most famous investigative journalist was quietly chipping away at a book that delves into the dysfunctions of President Trump’s White House remained largely unknown.' 'Senior officials, acting as lone wolves concerned with preserving their own reputations, spoke to Woodward on their own — with some granting him hours of their time out of a fear of being the last person in the room to offer his or her viewpoint. As one former administration official put it: "He hooked somebody, and that put the fear of God in everyone else." Another former official added: "It’s gonna be killer. Everyone talked with Woodward.”'  'Donald Trump is about to get the Bob Woodward treatment.' 'I think you’ve always been fair.' 'The sheer weight of anecdotes depicts a man with no empathy and a pathological capacity for lying.' 'Fuelling his narrative is an astonishing cast of rogues, ideologues, self-made millionaires and men in uniform who have spent the past two years in and out of Trump's administration.' 'Horribly fascinating. Strongly recommended. If you can bear it.' 'He is the master and I'd trust him over politicians of either party any day of the week.' 'Fear depicts a White House awash in dysfunction, where the Lord of the Flies is the closest thing to an owner's manual.' 'I wonder how many journalists have arrived in Washington over the years dreaming of becoming the next Bob Woodward . . . Though his books are often sensational, he is the opposite of sensationalist. He’s diligent, rigorous, fastidious about the facts, and studiously ethical. There’s something almost monastic about his method . . . He’s Washington's chronicler in chief.' 'He has an extraordinary ability to get otherwise responsible adults to spill [their] guts to him . . . his ability to get people to talk about stuff they shouldn’t be talking about is just extraordinary and may be unique.' 'In Woodward’s meticulous account of office intrigues, the president’s men don’t seem to be trembling with fright. What they mostly feel is contempt for Trump or pity for his ignorance and the “teenage logic” of his obsessively vented grievances.' 'To me the standout message from the book . . . is that the president is a bit clueless, a bit vain, a bit dangerous even; but his people are utterly at sea . . .’ 'His work has been factually unassailable . . . In an age of "alternative facts" and corrosive tweets about "fake news", Woodward is truth’s gold standard.' 'I’ve been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn’t like. But never once – never – did I think Woodward made it up. Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays it straight. Someone told it to him.' ‘As special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the murky 2016 election that brought Trump to power moves towards a likely-to-be-sensational finale, Fear will help you discuss the inevitable crisis intelligibly.’ Expand reviews