White House Special Handbook, or How to Rule the World in the 21st Century
This rather idiosyncratic work is written by a man who claims to have been asked by unspecified "folks in Washington" (former CIA director John Deutch is named as having authorized the "operation") to distill his experience in covert operations and techniques of influence (gained while serving as a intelligence officer for the Soviet KGB and the Ukrainian National Security Service) for a briefing and set of instructions for the White House. This book is the result, providing advice on such wide ranging matters as managing the Cabinet, manipulating voters, negotiating with Congress, "securing world domination," managing secret services, using the FBI and the Mafia to maintain domestic control, military tactics, campaigning. It also provides bare bones demographic information about every state, quotes and political activities of every US president, and other information. The author's approach is suitably cynical for White House occupants, but one doubts whether this is truly "the book the President of the United States turns to the first day he steps through the door to the Oval Office," as the promotional materials claim. The possibility that it is meant as a wry commentary on current-day politics should not be dismissed, but even as such it remains an odd work. --©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR