Thank you to Grand Central Publishing, for providing an advance reading copy for review consideration via NetGalley. No review was required or promised. All opinions are my own.
Mr. Book just finished Situation Room, by George Stephanopoulos.
This was an excellent look at behind the scenes in the situation room during times of crisis. The book also discusses how the room works during its every day operation.
The book is filled with fascinating tidbits and stories. One of the most alarming stories was how, in the middle of the Yom Kippur War, President Nixon was out of commission because he was having a mental breakdown, due to Watergate. Al Haig was, according to one witness, acting as though he was the president, while Kissinger was also running the show with him. To make matters worse, Brezhnev was out of commission in the Kremlin, due to alcohol and sleeping pills, while events were escalating to the point where nuclear war was a realistic scenario.
There are other very interesting tidbits, such as during Clinton’s second term, newspaper articles from the New York Times and Washington Post were still be circulated in the situation room by making photocopies of the newspapers and faxing them and they didn’t get internet access until 1998. Also, how Richard Clarke sat in the situation room in the days following 9/11 with a loaded gun on him.
We also learn in the book that the Situation Room has a new name. It’s been called WHSR (pronounced whizzer) by the “cool kids.” But, I have to agree with Stephanopoulos that it’s not a term I will ever use and I hope that it never catches on.
Mr. Book gave this an A. Amazon, NetGalley and Goodreads require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
Mr. Book originally read this on May 18, 2024.
