READ THIS: IN MY TIME A Personal and Political Memoir By DICK CHENEY with Liz Cheney

Doesn't everyone want to be a fly on the wall?  Especially in the White House?!  Especially when it is a fly representative of someone who has a public persona that is somewhat of a mystery, especially when highlighted by Saturday Night Live in undisclosed locations?   Don't you want to know about the special drawer in the vice president's desk...and don't you want to see where every VP has signed on that desk since Truman?  In My Time chronicles the life of Dick Cheney from his point of view, with assistance from his daughter Liz.  We love that this was a family project first of all, and second of all, we love the frank quality that this book presents from start to finish: you will find all 500 plus pages riveting.  Peachy did and she read it from cover to cover in one day.  Dick Cheney is a secret weapon the United States has had for years and you're about to see why.  His brilliance in the backseat will enlighten you all as you turn page by page.


Without a doubt the most influential Vice President of the current era, Dick Cheney has had some of the most interesting life experiences of people on planet earth today, and if you haven't read this book, you just aren't aware of that-so, we are telling you!


We love how this book paints a picture of Dick Cheney as a real person (check out his 6 month old picture on the front lawn in Lincoln!) and some of the resonating moments mentioned will warm your heart you will be glad his heart beats strongly, warmly and loudly:
*Daughters Liz and Mary groan at the subject of visiting another Civil War site while growing up: "Daddy, do we have to do another battlefield?"
*Granddaughter Elizabeth, aged 3 at the time, draws a lovely dinosaur on Joe Lieberman's seat at the debate table (see p. 292 - Cheney has real respect for Lieberman-this is just a funny incident)
*"Grandpa, if you win, will you come to school as my show-and-tell?"asks granddaughter Kate.  He agrees, after Kate makes it clear that she only wants him to come if he wins.  And he goes!
*Don't you want to know why he requests a meeting with the Jonas Brothers?
*You do want to know of his dream of Italy


What will surprise you:
*Did you know he wanted to intern for a young Republican congressman named Don Rumsfeld from Illinois?  Read In My Time to see why! (p.41)
*He never traveled abroad until he had to go to Egypt for the President's funeral.  Read to see what you do when you don't have a passport and travel on a plane that says "United States of America" written on the side (p.54)
*See why he says Gorbachev is one of the twentieth century's historic figures because of what he did not do (p.168)
*See what female world leader he thinks is one of the most effective national leaders of the twentieth century (p. 200) - "my session with her [was] the single most valuable I had in the run-up to the war"


What did not surprise us that was even on the day of inauguration for George W. Bush, Clinton was late in meeting the incoming administration for coffee....see page 302, 303 as Clinton wrote pardons until noon that day.  It also is interesting to see how he is gratified that the Obama administration comes around to a certain way of thinking on page 357...check out what he says in the Epilogue on page 521-crucial stuff.


Some of our favorite Dick Cheney words of wisdom:


"Especially during those early years, I operated on the assumption that the more time you put in, the better you were doing in meeting your responsibilities and achieving your potential.  I hadn't figured out it was important to pace yourself and accept that sometimes less produces more." (p.57)


"Sometimes in life that's all you're left with, the knowledge that you gave a job your best shot.  And sometimes that's enough." (p. 109)


"I couldn't imagine hiring someone to tell me what to do." (p. 114)


"Serving as [George H.W. Bush's] secretary of defense was one of the highest honors of my life." (p. 239)


"The path I had traveled was partly due to the circumstances of my birth.  Not that I had been born into a powerful or privileged family; I wasn't.  But I was born an American, a blessing surely among life's greatest." (p. 518)


We literally could go on and on...but we want you to read the book.  Dick Cheney is an unsung hero in the War Against Terrorism, and his tireless efforts towards this cause and the overall good of America are admirable.  So are the professional relationships he made it a priority to nurture-in presiding over the Senate, for example.  Do not miss what he had to say about 9/11 on page 330 and on page 335 on terrorists networks.  Weapons of Mass Destruction are addressed on page 402 through 404 and more...you will find this quite interesting.  His North Korea analysis starts on page 490 and is fascinating.  We do not agree with him on what he says about Lehman Brothers, however on page 504.  We do not think he worked there; Peachy did.  We are not overly political at Whom You Know but we are overly patriotic, if there is such a thing.  This is a book for every patriot to read, if only for the reason that Dick Cheney is a major political figure of our time; however, we have given you far more compelling reasons in our previous paragraphs.  Whom You Know Highly Recommends In My Time by Dick and Liz Cheney. It is an absolute must-read and it will get your bionic heart pumping, whether literal or figurative.  And, we really love the sections with pictures!

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In this eagerly anticipated memoir, former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers an unyielding portrait of American politics over nearly forty years and shares personal reflections on his role as one of the most steadfast and influential statesmen in the history of our country.

The public perception of Dick Cheney has long been something of a contradiction. He has been viewed as one of the most powerful vice presidents—secretive, even mysterious, and at the same time opinionated and unflinchingly outspoken. He has been both praised and attacked by his peers, the press, and the public. Through it all, courting only the ideals that define him, he has remained true to himself, his principles, his family, and his country. Now in an enlightening and provocative memoir, a stately page-turner with flashes of surprising humor and remarkable candor, Dick Cheney takes readers through his experiences as family man, policymaker, businessman, and politician during years that shaped our collective history.



Born into a family of New Deal Democrats in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney was the son of a father at war and a high-spirited and resilient mother. He came of age in Casper, Wyoming, playing baseball and football and, as senior class president, courting homecoming queen Lynne Vincent, whom he later married. This all-American story took an abrupt turn when he flunked out of Yale University, signed on to build power line in the West, and started living as hard as he worked. Cheney tells the story of how he got himself back on track and began an extraordinary ascent to the heights of American public life, where he would remain for nearly four decades:



· He was the youngest White House Chief of Staff, working for President Gerald Ford—the first of four chief executives he would come to know well.



· He became Congressman from Wyoming and was soon a member of the congressional leadership working closely with President Ronald Reagan.



· He became secretary of defense in the George H. W. Bush administration, overseeing America’s military during Operation Desert Storm and in the historic transition at the end of the Cold War.



· He was CEO of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company with projects and personnel around the globe.



· He became the first vice president of the United States to serve out his term of office in the twenty-first century. Working with George W. Bush from the beginning of the global war on terror, he was—and remains—an outspoken defender of taking every step necessary to defend the nation.



Eyewitness to history at the highest levels, Cheney brings to life scenes from past and present. He describes driving through the White House gates on August 9, 1974, just hours after Richard Nixon resigned, to begin work on the Ford transition; and he portrays a time of national crisis a quarter century later when, on September 11, 2001, he was in the White House bunker and conveyed orders to shoot down a hijacked airliner if it would not divert.



With its unique perspective on a remarkable span of American history, IN MY TIME will enlighten. As an intimate and personal chronicle, it will surprise, move, and inspire. Dick Cheney’s is an enduring political vision to be reckoned with and admired for its honesty, its wisdom, and its resonance. In My Time is truly the last word about an incredible political era, by a man who lived it and helped define it—with courage and without compromise.



IN MY TIME

A Personal and Political Memoir

By Dick Cheney

With Liz Cheney

Pub date: August 30, 2011 • ISBN: 9781439176191

Price: $35.00 • Hardcover • Threshold Editions


Threshold Editions is an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit our website at http://www.simonsays.com