In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir

by Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney Narrated by Edward Herrmann

Overview

In his #1 New York Times bestseller, former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers a forty-year portrait of American politics and shares unyielding reflections on his role as one of the most steadfast and influential statesmen in the history of our country.

In his enlightening and provocative memoir-a stately page-turner with flashes of surprising humor, remarkable candor, and powerful resonance-former Vice President Dick Cheney takes readers through his experiences as family man, policymaker, businessman, and politician during years that shaped our collective history.

Eyewitness to events at the highest levels, Dick Cheney brings to life scenes from past and present: He chronicles his coming-of-age as a high school athlete in Casper, Wyoming, and courting homecoming queen Lynn Vincent, his future wife. He describes driving through the White House gates just hours after the 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon, to manage the Ford transition. He portrays his response to the national crisis of 9/11, when he conveyed orders from the White House bunker to shoot down a hijacked airliner if it would not divert. And he reveals how his political vision has endured through his extraordinary ascent to the heights of American public life as:

* The youngest White House Chief of Staff, under President Gerald Ford

* Congressman from Wyoming who worked closely with President Ronald Reagan

* Secretary of defense under George H. W. Bush, overseeing the U.S. military during Operation Desert Storm and the resolution of the Cold War

* CEO of the international Fortune 500 company Halliburton

* The first U.S. vice president to serve out his term of office in the twenty-first century. Working with George W. Bush from the onset of the global war on terror, he was-and remains-an outspoken proponent of taking every step necessary to defend the nation.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Audio

The 46th and perhaps most contentious vice president of the United States speaks his mind in this sprawling firsthand account of his political life. Naturally, the author’s slant is quite noticeable, particularly when he explains his role in the decision to invade Iraq following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Narrator Edward Herrmann delivers a compelling, straightforward performance with a journalistic tone. He gives the material the respect it deserves without editorializing. Cheney—who also provides narration—proves to be an excellent storyteller, ably reading his story with great respect for those who have lost their lives in America’s war against terror.While this memoir is unlikely to change Cheney’s hardened and callous image, it does offer a unique look at one of the most painful and controversial times in American history—and for that this audio is certainly worth a listen. A Threshold hardcover. (Aug.)

SEPTEMBER 2011 - AudioFile

It’s quite the adventure, in Cheney’s memoir, to be in the executive and legislative inner sanctums and policy-making forums of the nation from the early 1970s through the end of the George W. Bush administration. Edward Herrmann delivers a subtle, assured, patrician-sounding performance, aptly conveying Cheney’s focused conviction regarding the appropriateness of the great power that is placed in the government’s executive branch. Herrmann’s pleasing, authoritative tone provides perfect pacing, and he commands the material as if it were his own. The narration sounds utterly engaged and is presented in an unbiased, straightforward manner. The former vice president’s political fans and foes alike will take note of the often-brutal insights. Cheney himself delivers both the prologue and epilogue in a calm and unadorned manner. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

George W. Bush's vice president speaks--sort of. Cheney is a company man through and through, a servant of Republican functionaries from the time of LBJ to the recent past--if there is anything to be learned from this bloodless memoir, it is that. The author opens with the outrage of 9/11, in which one thought was foremost on his mind, apart from clearing the sky of planes: namely, "guaranteeing the continuity of a functioning United States government." In this, he writes, he was the essential element without which that continuity was unsustainable. Cheney's memoir is political to the extent that he plays the games of hardball politics with everyone he meets, and he makes sure to constantly remind readers of American supremacy and his centrality to it. Colin Powell was his ally until his taste for the war in Iraq weakened, whereupon it was clear to Cheney that Powell had to go. Ditto Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney's take on the world is clinical and even scholarly, much like that of Henry Kissinger (another figure whom Cheney does not seem to regard very highly). He is methodical but selective, as when he carefully accounts for his holdings in a certain corporation at the time of his vice presidency: "This was salary that I had already earned, so it was due to me whether the company was doing well or badly." The company, Halliburton, did well, of course, thanks to no-bid contracts in Iraq--but Cheney still professes irritation that anyone should doubt his clean hands, an irritation expressed by an infamous F-bomb on Capitol Hill ("It was probably not language I should have used on the Senate floor, but it was completely deserved"). The underlying point of the book is that Bush/Cheney were right in invading Iraq and waterboarding prisoners. Let the reader be the judge--until, that is, history decides on the matter.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171062729
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	08/30/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

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