Karl Rove and George W. Bush appear on the cover of this book ostensibly as its central subjects. While it is certainly true that much of the author’s effort is devoted to the failings and, to a lesser degree, successes of the Bush presidency, the book can be read to encompass much broader themes, especially about the role of policy analysts and of political advisers in a presidential administration and the likely collisions between them, and the risks of failing to differentiate their advice. Rove draws particular attention because of his dual role as both a political strategist and policy adviser, with the latter function derived from his thesis that the right policy choices from a political standpoint can help generate a political realignment based upon what is popularly known as the 1896 realignment of political forces favoring the Republicans for more than a generation. Mayer is at least mildly skeptical that such a realignment actually occurred and is especially skeptical that the Republican dominance that followed was the consequence of policy. More likely in his view, it was the result of events—a depression that caused a record loss of Democratic seats in Congress and the loss by Democrats of seven of the following nine presidential elections. Events, good or bad, generally have more political sway and impact on a presidency and on a presidential part