Takeover - Charlie Savage

In 1789, the Founders devised a system of checks and balances to keep kingly powers out of the hands of presidents. But in the 1970s and 80s, a faction of Republicans, outraged by the weakening of the presidency after Watergate and Vietnam, abandoned the traditional conservative suspicion of concentrated government power. These men hatched a plot that would allow the White House to wield enormous powers, operating behind a veil of secrecy and unchecked by Congress or the courts.Today's administration is bringing this project to fruition.
TAKEOVER reveals the machinations behind the headlines and lays bare a hidden agenda three decades in the making, one that links warrantless wiretapping and Bush's judicial nominees, torture and Cheney's energy task force, the faith-based initiative and the imprisonment of citizens without trial. It tells the story of how a group of true believers, led by Cheney, set out to establish near-monarchical executive powers that, in the words of one conservative critic, 'will lie around like a loaded weapon' for any future president.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage is a Washington Correspondent for The New York Times. His first book, Takeover, a bestselling and award-winning account of the Bush administration's efforts to expand presidential power, was named one of the best books of 2007 by The Washington Post, Slate, and Esquire.

One of the key texts of the Bush years...A masterful work of investigative journalism
SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle