The inspiring and revelatory autobiography of the defense secretary and CIA director who led the intelligence war that killed Bin Laden, among many important roles in a legendary career
It could be said that Leon Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public servant in the past fifty years. His first career, beginning as an army intelligence officer and including a distinguished run as one of Congress’s most powerful and respected members, lasted thirty-five years and culminated in his transformational role as Clinton’s budget czar and White House chief of staff. He then “retired” to establish the Panetta Institute with his wife of fifty years, Sylvia; to serve on the Iraq Study Group; and to protect his beloved California coastline. But in 2009, he accepted what many said was a thankless task: returning to public office as the director of the CIA, taking it from a state of turmoil after the Bush-era torture debates and moving it back to the vital center of America’s war against Al Qaeda, including the campaign that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. And then, in the wake of bin Laden’s death, Panetta became the U.S. secretary of defense, inheriting two troubled wars in a time of austerity and painful choices.
Like his career, Worthy Fights is a reflection of Panetta’s values. It is imbued with the frank, grounded, and often quite funny spirit of a man who never lost touch with where he came from: his family’s walnut farm in beautiful Carmel Valley, California. It is also a testament to a lost kind of political leadership, which favors progress and duty to country over partisanship. Panetta is a Democrat who pushed for balanced budgets while also expanding care for the elderly and sick; a devout Catholic who opposes the death penalty but had to weigh every drone strike from 2009 through 2011. Throughout his career, Panetta’s polestar has been his belief that a public servant’s real choice is between leadership or crisis. Troubles always come about through no fault of one’s own, but most can be prevented with courage and foresight.
As always, Panetta calls them as he sees them in Worthy Fights. Suffused with its author’s decency and stubborn common sense, the book is an epic American success story, a great political memoir, and a revelatory view onto many of the great figures and events of our time.
1 有用 Eric 2014-12-17 09:18:10
,resolute and hardworking, deveoted to values that some might find quaint: family, duty, faith. preserve democracy, that's a worthy fight,
0 有用 萧何 2021-11-03 14:10:42
读到80%本书基本要尾声了,不要把他当作自传来读,感觉就好很多,否则会略有失望的。叙述写了他在职期间的那些事,尤其担任2009年CIA局长和2011年国防部长。书名是很贴切的worthy fights,纪念那些在CIA和国防军队中牺牲的职员们和士兵们,所以不能把它作为自传来看。还算是比较好读,看完对CIA和国防部稍稍有点了解咯。
0 有用 ay 2022-06-27 21:27:21
“(2012年9月17日)在我们会面前他隐退了几个星期,很多报道揣测他可能生病了。一些人怀疑他是否会取消我们的会面,但是他精神饱满的出现在大会堂与我会面,这让很多观察者大吃一惊。……………最后我们简要的谈了谈朝鲜问题,我向他指出朝鲜的核武器和导弹项目对我们在该地区的朋友、甚至是美国自身的稳定造成了令人担心的威胁。他几乎要叹气了,眼珠子转了转。他承认,朝鲜也让他恼火”。
0 有用 cynthiaxxu 2014-11-12 14:52:26
Very well written! Interesting to see things from the other angle. There will always be biases, one way or the other. However, if we know as much as Leon does, at least there will be solid ground (bel... Very well written! Interesting to see things from the other angle. There will always be biases, one way or the other. However, if we know as much as Leon does, at least there will be solid ground (belief) for us to stand on. (展开)
0 有用 ay 2022-06-27 21:27:21
“(2012年9月17日)在我们会面前他隐退了几个星期,很多报道揣测他可能生病了。一些人怀疑他是否会取消我们的会面,但是他精神饱满的出现在大会堂与我会面,这让很多观察者大吃一惊。……………最后我们简要的谈了谈朝鲜问题,我向他指出朝鲜的核武器和导弹项目对我们在该地区的朋友、甚至是美国自身的稳定造成了令人担心的威胁。他几乎要叹气了,眼珠子转了转。他承认,朝鲜也让他恼火”。
0 有用 萧何 2021-11-03 14:10:42
读到80%本书基本要尾声了,不要把他当作自传来读,感觉就好很多,否则会略有失望的。叙述写了他在职期间的那些事,尤其担任2009年CIA局长和2011年国防部长。书名是很贴切的worthy fights,纪念那些在CIA和国防军队中牺牲的职员们和士兵们,所以不能把它作为自传来看。还算是比较好读,看完对CIA和国防部稍稍有点了解咯。
1 有用 Eric 2014-12-17 09:18:10
,resolute and hardworking, deveoted to values that some might find quaint: family, duty, faith. preserve democracy, that's a worthy fight,
0 有用 cynthiaxxu 2014-11-12 14:52:26
Very well written! Interesting to see things from the other angle. There will always be biases, one way or the other. However, if we know as much as Leon does, at least there will be solid ground (bel... Very well written! Interesting to see things from the other angle. There will always be biases, one way or the other. However, if we know as much as Leon does, at least there will be solid ground (belief) for us to stand on. (展开)