TAKING HEAT The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House

The listener's perspective of Fleischer's memoir will most likely be shaped by his or her political views. Supporters of President Bush will describe the book as a candid memoir of Fleischer's years as press secretary; on the other hand, President Bush's detractors will view the book as a paean to a president who divided the country while using people like Fleischer to lie to the American people. While the reality is probably somewhere in between, the title offers no new insights into President Bush or the events of his first term. Fleischer reads with the same sense of confidence/smugness that characterized his contentious relationship with the press, a style as polarizing in audio as in the White House. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE/JULY 05]