By Juliet Lapidos

Written by: Frank Rich

Publisher: The Penguin Press

New York Times columnist Frank Rich claims that his new book “is not intended to be a harangue about George W. Bush or the war in Iraq,” which is a rather elegant bit of sophistry. The Greatest Story Ever Sold is indeed a harangue (a very thorough and convincing one at that); but instead of attacking Bush, the book rants about how “some clever people in the White House” have sold Bush’s policies. Rich’s examination of the five years since 9/11 chronicles the administration’s efforts to blur the distinction between propaganda and news, and to replace truth with what Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert has called “truthiness.” 

Karl Rove gets special—and especially vituperative—attention as the maestro of the Republican PR machine. But Rich leaves plenty of room in the ninth circle for sloppy journalists like Judith Miller and sycophantic ones like Bob Woodward, who have abetted the Republican spin campaign by treating the news media like a publicity service. There are few surprises here. No one’s shocked to read that Bush lied about the Iraqi WMDs, that the Swift Boat Veterans smeared John Kerry or that Judith Miller doesn’t know how to fact-check. Lack of novelty, however, is not necessarily a shortcoming for a work of non-fiction. On the contrary, given the Bush administration’s relentless efforts to sell a radically conservative agenda through flashy PR stunts, it’s commendable that Rich remains interested in simply telling the truth.