The Great Rift is a sweeping history of the intertwined careers of Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, whose rivalry and conflicting views of U.S. national security color our political debate to this day.Dick Cheney and Colin Powell emerged on the national scene more than thirty years ago, and it is easy to forget that they were once allies. The two men collaborated closely in the successful American wars in Panama and Iraq during the presidency of George H. W. Bush--but from this pinnacle, conflicts of ideology and sensibility drove them apart. Returning to government service under George W. Bush in 2001, they (and their respective allies within the administration) fell into ever-deepening antagonism over the role America should play in a world marked by terrorism and other nontraditional threats. In a wide-ranging, deeply researched, and dramatic narrative, James Mann explores each man's biography and philosophical predispositions to show how and why this deep and permanent rupture occurred. Through dozens of original interviews and surprising revelations from presidential archives, he brings to life the very human story of how this influential friendship turned so sour and how the enmity of these two powerful men colored the way America acts in the world.

PrefacePart OneINDISPENSABLE1 Useful Young Men2 The Quiet Conservative3 Climbing the Ladder4 "Your Buddy, Colin"Part TwoFORTY-ONE5 Appointments6 The First Invasion7 A Much Bigger War8 Deciding Not to Go to Baghdad9 The Soviet Collapse10 Cheney's Blueprint11 DeparturesPart ThreeINTERREGNUM12 On the Outside13 The ReturnsPart FourFORTY-THREE14 From the Very Start15 September 11 and Its Aftermath16 The Two Tribes17 The Nondecision18 The Road to Baghdad19 ChaosPart FiveDISPENSABLE20 IsolationEpilogueNotesAcknowledgmentsIndex