Includes bibliographical references (pages 657-663) and index.

The Velvet Hammer -- In the Magnolia City -- The warden's son -- God came today -- A long dark night -- Miracle man -- Out of the backroom -- The asterisk club -- Troika -- Shit detector -- Big leagues -- The witches' brew -- The ratfuck -- The dark side -- Morning in America -- Fencing master -- Black Monday -- The handler -- Jigsaw puzzle -- Fly fishing with Shevy -- The curtain falls -- Winners and losers -- Desert diplomacy -- Eyes of a killer -- In the souk -- A call to action -- The cruelest turn -- The virus -- Scorched earth -- Grave and deteriorating.

"Co-authored by the Chief White House correspondent at The New York Times and the Washington columnist at the The New Yorker, this is ... the story of legendary White House chief of staff and secretary of state James A. Baker III, the man who ran Washington when Washington ran the world. In the latter half of the twentieth century, no Republican won the presidency without his help, and the men he counseled in the Oval Office--Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush--defined more than one generation of American life. Campaign manager, chief of staff, treasury secretary, and ultimately secretary of state, James A. Baker III understood better than anyone how to make Washington work and how to pull the levers of power at home and abroad"-- Provided by publisher.