Overview

Over the course of a lifetime of service to his country, Colin Powell became a national hero, a beacon of wise leadership and, according to polls, the most trusted man in America. From his humble origins as the son of Jamaican immigrants to the highest levels of government in four administrations, he helped guide the nation through some of its most heart-wrenching hours. Now, in the first full biography of one of the most admired men of our time, award-winning Washington Post journalist Karen DeYoung takes us from Powell's Bronx childhood and meteoric rise through the military ranks to his formative roles in Washington's corridors of power and his controversial tenure as secretary of state.With dramatic new information about the inner workings of an administration locked in ideological combat, DeYoung makes clearer than ever before the decision-making process that took the nation to war and addresses the still-unanswered questions about Powell's departure from his post shortly after the 2004 election. Drawing on interviews with U.S. and foreign sources as well as with Powell himself, and with unprecedented access to his personal and professional papers, Soldier is a revelatory portrait of an American icon: a man at once heroic and all-too-humanly fallible.

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Judicious, thorough, unstinting . . . Karen DeYoung's fine new biography, with its privileged glimpses into policy battles and high-level backbiting in the Bush administration, is sure to be one of this year's top newsmaking books. <br>--David Walton, Dallas Morning News<br> <br> It becomes clear that Powell--who harbored serious doubts about the wisdom of invasion and who frequently found himself an outsider in an administration dominated by neo-conservative hawks--was prescient about a host of issues, from the difficulties of rebuilding a postwar Iraq to the need for higher troop levels and multilateral support. <br>--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times<br> <br> DeYoung . . . imbues this story with narrative tension and a steady accumulation of detail that shows exactly how [Powell] allowed himself to be used, mastered and then cast aside by his antagonists in the administration . . . A fascinating study in bureaucratic maneuvering, groupthink and subtle self-deception. <br>--George Packer, Washington Post Book World<br> <br> The most explosive book of the fall. An early look reveals . . . new information about the White House's preparation for war, internecine conflicts within the war Cabinet, and--most surprising--Powell's account of his unceremonious exit from the administration. <br>-- Esquire<br> <br> DeYoung brings nuance and psychological depth to her analysis. <br>--Gary Kamiya, Salon <br> The story of a good soldier sacrificed . . . An excellent study in leadership--and lack thereof. <br>-- Kirkus <br> Diligent, sympathetic, but not uncritical . . . It doesn't pull punches. <br>--Joseph Lelyveld, New York Review of Books<br> <br> DeYoung comes into her own . .. discussing Powell's brief flirtation with presidential politics and the bureaucratic infighting that has characterized this Bush administration from the start . . . Sheds further light on a story whose broad outlines are well-known. <br>--Tim Rutten, The Los Angeles Times<br> <br> A consistently interesting recollection of [Powell's] varied career, shot through with heavy doses of duty, honor, and rectitude. <br>-- The Atlantic Monthly<br> <br> DeYoung covers Powell's entire career in this nuanced, comprehensively researched first complete biography . . . DeYoung presents her subject as above all a soldier. <br>-- Publishers Weekly<br> <p> From the Hardcover edition.

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