The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation by Philip Shenon

Just got my first review in the U.K., where the book is now on sale. Peter Preston, the former editor of the Guardian, gave me a terrific review last Sunday in the Observer, the Guardian's weekend sister paper. He describes The Commission as a "rich slice of investigative journalism" and a "masters' thesis in human frailty." I like that so many reviewers see this as a book about the struggles of human beings, as opposed to bureaucracies; certainly that was my intention. Here's the link to the Observer: books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2267511,00.html I've gotten lots of good comments on the excerpt in The Washingtonian; it really has a broad readership in D.C. and beyond. Phil Shenon

The Washingtonian magazine has a long excerpt from "The Commission" in its new issue, all about Sandy Berger's document thefts from the National Archives. The headline is "Stinging Sandy Berger." Unfortunately, no electronic link. But you'll find it in the April issue. There's a separate article in the new issue about Lanny Breuer, Berger's talented lawyer, whose hard work almost certainly spared Berger from more serious criminal charges and jail time. The article says that Breuer is now one of Washington's "go-to" lawyers for people in trouble. "Berger's relative wrist slap made other potential clients taken notice," the article says, noting that Breuer's client list now includes Roger Clemens, the major-league pitcher under scrutiny for possible steroid use. Phil Shenon

The Denver Post has a very nice review this morning, under the headline, "9/11, Awash in Politics." Here's the link to the review by the Post's book editor, Tom Walker: http://www.denverpost.com/books/ci_8564784. Tom says that anyone tired of the "same old, same old in Washington" will be "hopping man" after reading the ''The Commission.'' Hope this gets me an invitation to take the book tour to Denver, home to some of the world's great bookstores. Phil Shenon

The Sydney Morning Herald's weekend paper has the latest excerpt from "The Commission." Here's the link: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/condis-inside-man/2008/03/14/1205472088777.html. And the book is excerpted in the next issue of the Washingtonian magazine, which is on newsstands in a few days. Phil Shenon

My friends at the Sydney Morning Herald will be running another long excerpt of "The Commission" this weekend. It should be available on the paper's website Friday afternoon (eastern U.S. time). The website is: http://www.smh.com.au/. I was amazed and impressed at how the first excerpt last weekend was picked up all around the world. The book is now on sale in both the U.K. and Australia in trade paperback -- soft cover but about the same size as the U.S. hardback. I've got dates for some out-of-town trips for the book tour and hope to meet readers and critics: Los Angeles late next month for the Los Angeles Times book fair and an appearance at Occidental College in L.A. on Monday, April 28; Louisville, Ky., on April 22 at the Louisville public library, New York in early May for a luncheon at the city's bar association. My Book TV interview is repeated again Sunday at noon eastern on C-SPAN 2. For the internet-savvy, it's available now at the Book TV website: http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9172&SectionName=Politics&PlayMedia=No. Phil Shenon

C-Span has posted the full Book TV interview with Time's Michael Duffy: http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9172&SectionName=Politics&PlayMedia=Yes. I'm delighted to see this video bouncing around the blogosphere. Phil Shenon

I know I'm inviting more attacks from the groups that argue that 9/11 was an "inside job," somehow orchestrated by the Bush administration. But I did want to link to this fascinating youtube.com video. It's Noam Chomsky, the linguist turned political activist who is about as fierce a critic of the United States government -- and the Bush administration, in particular -- as you can find in this country. I can't tell exactly when or where these comments were made. His views on the concept of 9/11 as an inside job? Without further commentary, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZ-vIaW6Bc. Phil Shenon

There's a splendid review of the book on the Huffington Post by the novelist Elizabeth Benedict, and she has also posted a q-and-a that she conducted with me about the organization of the book and about my views of Condoleezza Rice. The Huffington Post review is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-benedict/philip-shenons-commi_b_90481.html. Secretary Rice is also the focus of a long excerpt from the book that is being published this weekend by the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. Here's that link: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/they-knew-but-did-nothing/2008/03/07/1204780065676.html. The Herald's excerpt is timed to publication of the book in Australia by Little Brown, which has also just published the book in the U.K. So far, no word on an Australian book tour, unfortunately. My C-SPAN interview with Michael Duffy of Time magazine airs the first time tomorrow night -- and then repeats and repeats, I'm pleased to report. Phil Shenon

Michael Duffy of Time Magazine asked some terrific questions during an hour-long interview conducted today for this weekend's After Words on C-SPAN. It'll be hard to miss. Runs four times on C-SPAN-2's Book TV this weekend. http://www.c-span.org/ has the schedule for your time zone. Phil Shenon

Here's the full email Friday from Senator Gorton, who has both criticism and praise for The Commisison:

For the copy of "The Commission", many thanks. I have read it from cover to cover with genuine interest and have learned a great deal that I did not know about our proceedings. It quotes me accurately (something to which I was only occasionally privileged during my political career) and is altogether complimentary of my participation on the Commission. It does twice misspell my last name in two places in the text and my first name in the notes, but I have also become accustomed to that failing.
Nevertheless I am disappointed.
The statutory charge to the Commission was to write an objective history of the facts and circumstances leading up to 9/11, a fact that caused Hamilton and the Commission to do our work "without adjectives and adverbs", and to make recommendations to help prevent a recurrence. It did both, and it had more of its recommendations adopted by the Congress and the Administration than any other such commission of which I have any knowledge. The history, while supplemented around the edges since, remains the definitive description of the times. Thus the Commission discharged its responsibilities magnificently, but the book ignores the result in order to criticize the process.
You make it clear that we should have assessed blame, but that would not only have split the Commission but would have been outside of the charge to the Commission. Certainly the findings left the reader with plenty of ammunition with which to criticize a wide range of people and institutions and your book is a perfect illustration of using them to do so. Obviously you would have preferred a Kerry election (I might have preferred a Kerrey one), but it's hardly our fault that he misused the material we handed him.
You also are a running critic of Philip Zelikow, in a fashion I believe to be without merit. In my view, his prior career was an asset rather than a detriment to the process. On a number of occasions, some of which you recognize, he took on people and institutions with which he was formerly associated, buttressed with knowledge he gained from those associations. The vicious concept of "appearance of conflict", which can never be entirely avoided in an imperfect world, would deprive us of invaluable assistance in a wide range of public tasks, and in this case ignores completely the result of the exercise, a result clearly free of bias and representing the views of the members who signed the report. I believe that the report would not have been as good, and might well not have been unanimous, had it not been for Philip.
I do believe, however, that you make a real contribution to our history, but that it would have been improved by praising the contributions of our staff director.
Slade Gorton

(As promised, I have already notified the publisher to correct the misspellings in the book. Phil Shenon)

Well, it's about time that a major reviewer didn't much like the book. The Washington Post assigned its review to one of its reporters, Michael Dobbs, against whom I've sometimes competed over the years. Michael labels me a "revisionist'' and argues that the 9/11 commission's final report "stands up pretty well'' despite the criticisms cited in my book. Michael defends Philip Zelikow against some of the harsher criticism of his leadership. Let the debate continue! Here's the full review: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022803102.html?sub=AR. I was pleased to see Michael describe The Commission as "a detailed narrative of the most important government investigative body since the Warren Commission'' and say that the book is "full of vivid anecdotes.'' I was also pleased to hear Friday night from former Senator Slade Gorton, one of the Republican commissioners and a valuable source for the book. He, too, is critical of my portrayal of Dr. Zelikow and the allegations of conflict of interest. "I believe that the report would not have been as good, and might well not have been unanimous, had it not been for Philip,'' Senator Gorton wrote me in an email. At the same time, the senator says that he "read the book from cover to cover with genuine interest" and that it makes "a real contribution to our history" and that he "learned a great deal that I did not know about our proceedings.'' Beyond that, Senator Gorton gives me the ultimate compliment: His says his quotes are correct. The book, he says "quotes me accurately (something to which I was only occasionally privileged during my political career).'' But he caught me on misspellings of his name at a few points in the text. It is Slade, not Slate. It is Gorton, not Gordon. Dumb, dumb mistakes, and they will be corrected in any reprinting. (I'm not aware of any other mispellings in the book, thank goodness.) I'll post the full letter from Senator Gorton as soon as I get his permission. Phil Shenon