In The Event That...

The Cloud of Sulfur Surrounding President Bush Isn't Evidence Enough

by Billy Kekevian

Sidney Blumenthal

Wed., Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m., $6-$15, National Constitution Center, Independence Mall, 525 Arch St., 215-409-6700

If you're in the market for a book explaining exactly what's wrong with the Bush administration, you've got a lot of options.

Both The Wall Street Journal's Ron Suskind and New York Times' Frank Rich have dissected all the president's men in ways Karl Rove would surely redact in the name of national security. Here's one more: Sidney Blumenthal's How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime (Princeton University Press) tells the story of a miserable failure who starts off offensive and grows downright frightening.

Blumenthal, a columnist for the Washington Post and Salon.com, has collected his writings on topics ranging from the Abramoff scandal to Katrina, but he dedicates most of his time to the "barely managed chaos" of Iraq.

If seeing those three items together in one sentence makes you long for the days of Lewinsky, you can get Blumenthal's thoughts on that administration, too. As an advisor to President Clinton, the man has an insider's perspective on how the White House works—or in Bush's case, fails—a claim few authors can make.