"Days of Fire"

Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House (Peter Baker)

This is, so far as I'm aware, the definitive history of George W Bush's two terms - the author had access to Bush, Cheney, and a number of disgruntled staffers, which produces as inside a look as possible. Combined with the author's fairness is a book that's quite gripping despite its intimidating size (Amazon says 816 pages, but that includes copious end notes). In fact, I could have easily read more; so much happened during these eight years that I could easily see the book being another 50% longer.
What I really appreciated in the book is that it makes Dubya into a real person; I'll freely admit that after eight years of his administration I had unconsciously started thinking of him as a political cartoon midget with a huge cowboy hat. It's nice to see the moments that make him a relateable human being, even if I still think he was a terrible president. (On that note, the author and I seem to agree that Bush's presidency was defined by lost opportunities more than anything else; I thought the author went a little too far in the afterword defending Bush's presidency, but it's the kind of difference of opinion where I understand and respect the argument, but don't agree with it myself.)
If you have even the slightest interest in politics, this is an easy recommend. I'm certainly no Bush fan, but the only time I wanted to put this book down is when holding all 800 pages of it up made my arm tired.

Grade: A