Suskind on Suskind

“About Ron Suskind

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Ron Suskind has written some of America's most important works of nonfiction, framing national debates while exploring the complexities of human experience.

Mr. Suskind's latest New York Times bestseller, "The Way of the World"(August, 2008), is a multi-layered narrative about the forces at home and abroad fighting today's battles for hope and security. Juxtaposing the human dramas of cultural collision with the controversial policies of the Bush administration and foreign leaders, the book weaves together a variety of story lines, painting a highly original portrait of the world we live in today. At the same time, it breaks major stories about prewar intelligence on Iraq, the U.S. government's deception of it's closest allies and the tragic last months in life of Benazir Bhutto. The Washington Post called the book a "humorous, indignant, touching story" which shows, "that America's most effective defense against international terrorism is not torture or wiretapping but the moral energy that flows from truthfulness, generosity, integrity and optimism." The New York Times called the book "a reportorial feat," especially in "chronicling the inner workings of the administration's national security team," and "the question of whether America and the Muslim world can ever look past their differences and find understanding."

Mr. Suskind's New York Times bestseller "The One Percent Doctrine" (June, 2006) is the definitive work on how the U.S. government frantically improvised to fight a new kind of war after 9/11. He takes readers on a tour of what he calls "the invisible battlefield" - a global matrix where U.S. spies race to catch soldiers of jihad before they strike - and reveals Dick Cheney's "one percent doctrine," the secret core of America's foreign policy playbook since 9/11. The book was called "riveting" by the New York Times; "an important book, filled with jaw-dropping stories we haven't heard before," by the Washington Post; and the "most detailed, revealing account yet of American counterterrorism efforts," by Publisher's Weekly.

His book, "The Price of Loyalty, George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill"(Jan 2004), was a singular, sweeping tour of the inner workings of the American government, that The New York Times called "an invaluable contribution to the historical record." Fortune cited the #1 New York Times Bestseller as "one of the 75 'smartest' books ever written," and it was awarded Best Book of 2004 by the Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Mr. Suskind is also the author of "A Hope in the Unseen, An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League" (Doubleday/Broadway, 1998), a book that has redefined national debates on race, class and achievement and is a favorite on U.S. campuses and in book clubs. Mr. Suskind, who speaks regularly around the country about the central role of education in the unfinished American journey, helps audiences discover a "hope in the unseen" in their own lives and, together, in the life of their country.

Mr. Suskind often appears on network television, and currently writes for Time Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire and the Wall Street Journal, where he was the senior national affairs reporter and won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. A graduate of the University of Virginia and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Mr. Suskind spends summers as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. He lives in Washington , D.C. , with his wife, Cornelia Kennedy Suskind, and their two sons, Walter and Owen.”

“Author Ron Suskind defends White House tell-all book on ‘Today’

By Nia-Malika Henderson

Ron Suskind, the author of a new White House tell-all that has the Obama administration in vigorous push-back mode, said Tuesday that his book is “densely sourced, and the analysis is pitch-perfect.”

“This is a 500-page book, the fact of the matter is everything in this book is as solid as a brick,” Suskind said in an interview with Ann Curry on NBC’s “Today” show.

 “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President,” hits bookstores today, but has already stirred up controversy inside the Beltway, with the White House accusing Suskind of making minor mistakes and lifting passages of his book from Wikipedia.

“The White House should be doing something other than Wiki searches,” Suskind told Curry. “In a 500-page book after a week, that’s all they came up with.”

The book offers a portrait of White House dysfunction, with economic adviser Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner running roughshod, ignoring women in staff meetings and slow-walking Obama’s directives on restructuring Citigroup.”