Product Description

White House press secretary Jim Schmidt is a master of spin, with the skills to cajole and otherwise persuade the nation's most powerful jounalists. Jim's younger brother Bill is the charismatic captain of the USS Winston Churchill, and leader of its expert but rambunctious crew. When the United States uncovers a Libyan chemical warfare plot, the brothers, along with beautiful and savvy Washington reporter Sue O'Dell, are plunged into a crisis of international terrorism -- in which controlling the facts is essential in keeping the upper hand...and in which the standard rules of engagement no longer apply. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Write soon, Bill Harlow!

Circle William is a thoroughly enjoyable read, technically gripping witha plot that is at times chillingly prescient.

Some of the male charactersseem like fugitives from central casting, and the females tend to be either ciphers or super-achievers.Harlow's spelling is at times inconsistent or downright incorrect. If BillHarlow writes a second book (and I earnestly pray that he does, although it's been eight years since Circle William) I hope he will have a copy editor look it over before publishing.In general, readers might not care, but the print media will appreciate it and take it that much more seriously.And, dare I say it? Inthis book there should be more frequent, or at least more intense, encounters between the fella and the girl.
Yet it all doesn't matter, somehow, because the book is witty and funny and terrifying enough to override its flaws.

There is such hubris, and at times such hilarity, that if I were a producer I would be doing my best to turn this into a hit movie.Starring, hmm,Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.We have computer technology now.We can do that, can't we?And possibly Jimmy Stewart for Jim Schmidt. Maybe I have touched on something.There is a refreshing, old-fashioned quality here that makes the reader believe that Americans are really keeping the world safe without ulterior motive.

Still, it's more than that andhard to pinpoint exactly why this book is so gratifying.There is the obvious, of course:there are good guys pitted against wonderfully pompous types.Harlowwrites with authority about the upper strata of the military, politics, and government--always a seductive combination.The technical side is fascinating and frightening.

Provoking laughter deliberately, even with all the other good things going on in the book, isn't easy. For that reason, if I had to choose just one achievement in Circle William, it would be the humour.Harlow's curriculum vitae in the Navy and in public affairs reads as extensive and daunting. So, mawkish as it may sound, thank you for sharing, Bill Harlow.Please write again soon.

Page burner
This is a great read. I could not put it down till the end. Seeing that I have served in the Navy for 14 years, some would think it odd that I care to read this pulp. On the other hand, I like to see how other people see the Services. The story/plot is a great one for when it was written. In '99, we had no clue that we could be an actual target to terrorists.
Now, you may ask, "If you liked the book enough to read it in two days, why only three stars?" Well, I do not like to see ex-sailors, be it enlisted or officer, make total mistakes on the day to day life in the service. Mr. Harlow, for the most part, does a good job of showing the reader a little of our lifestyle. He did have problems with a few things, a few simple little details. I did like his portrayal of the LDOs (Limited Duty Officers) and the kiss butt XO (Executive Officer) as I have seen these types myself.
Overall, great read with minor mistakes.

Highly enjoyable military novel!
I loved the Schmidt brothers.The story was engaging and entertaining.It was believable and I could handle the abbreviations etc. once I got into its rhythm.I hated Ellsworth - which is probably what the author wanted.I wish Ellsworth got his due at the end.I'll watch for new books by this author.

A remarkable and thoroughly engaging read!
It's amazing to me how a handful of major book reviewers with an attitude can affect the market's reception to an otherwise stunning work.It's hard for me to believe that the reviewer from "KIRKUS" and I read the same book called "Circle William." As a longtime fan of Tom Clancy, Michael Crighton and John Grisham, I'd like to think I have a nose for hugely commercial works."CIRCLE WILLIAM" is the greatest undiscovered political-military-terrorist-White House-suspense thriller in the past ten years.Someone at Scribner Publishing has a great eye for talent with Bill Harlow.But someone in Scribner's publicity and marketing department should be reassigned to Libya for allowing this terrific read to end up on a "remainder's table" at [local store].With the right marketing and publicity, this should have been one of the top ten bestsellers of 1999.If you ask me, I think some jealous and bitter wanna-be novelist at "Kirkus" unfairly excised their bile on this great novel, and this may have tempered the publisher's enthusiasm to support the book.What a shame for book consumers, and what a shame for Kirkus.Will somebody out there please get Bill Harlow to write another superb thriller?

Kirkus Is Krazy!`
I took the time to write this review because I thought the reviewer from Kirkus is way off base.

I READ A LOT. I bought this book at a dollar store for one dollar. That does not speak well for it. I bought it because it came well recommended from people who have been on the inside-- Navy Secretaries, Press Secretaries. They couldn't put it down.

I think it is the best piece of modern fiction I have read in a long time. It is funny. It is way beyond those Tom Clancy dreary soap operas where everyone has such cute, perfect and extremely well-documented lives. It is about PEOPLE who are well sketched (in a brief format of a 300-page novel). The story is just part of the lives of these people.

I think I know why this book has struggled. It is politically incorrect. He slams National Public Radio for being a bunch of windbags. Now, how are you supposed to get reviewed by effete pace setters if you slam them in your book? Also, Mr. Harlow makes the outrageous suggestion in 1999 that America could conceiveably come under attack by a bunch of crazed terrorists. Admittedly, this is far-fetched. At least it was far-fetched in 1999.

This is an outstanding work for a first novel, yea, a one hundredth novel. Note: it is not Henry James. Thank goodness, it is not Tom Clancy either. ... Read more

Product Description
Library edition on 15 unabridged CDs in hard, vinyl box. Worth far, far more than asking price. Ttnet's At the Center of teh Storm: My fears at the CIA. From the horse's mouth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Educational and Voluminous
This book helped me understand why the CIA took the blame for "intelligence failure" as part of the political process in Washington. Tenet had many successes during his long stint as Director of the CIA, especially in the early years of the war in Afghanistan. One could criticize him for seeming too eager to please the president and perhaps he should have positioned the CIA to be more independent. But as Tenet shows in this book, politics makes running an agency difficult.

Tenet used all his personal and professional resources to win allies to the U.S. cause. I think Tenet did remarkably well and displayed talent for this type of work. Apart from that I liked him based on his biography. His Greek-Albanian roots and parents' sacrifices to achieve the American dream for their sons inspired.

The CIA does not set policy nor does it have a seat among the cabinet officials. This agency is not in the inner power loop. Tenet's political position was weakened because he was of the Clinton administration and not among Bush's inner circle. The Bush administration looked to Tenet to provide cover for getting into the Iraq War. One must understand that the administration did this out of genuine beliefs and even ideology.

George Tenet did not share the ideology of Bush's inner circle. He felt that by remaining in his position as CIA Director, he could mitigate damage to the CIA. This was a very difficult position to be in. One could also take a critical approach to judging Tenet's tenure at the agency because his book shows that he and others at the agency perceived an impending disaster in the U.S. policy regarding Iraq. I do not feel as strongly critical of Tenet as some because he was in a horribly difficult ethical position.

Tenet's book is a really a detailed defense of his career. The first part covered the fight against terror. It showed that when there is less partisan bickering in Washington, the CIA can be extraordinarily effective and deliver fair returns on the public investment. The CIA is not so effective at influencing policy, and if policy is flawed, it can be rendered somewhat ineffective in its mission.

In the effort to win over the American people to go to war in Iraq, intelligence shaping became important to the administration. Douglas Feith, who reported directly to Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, spearheaded the effort to create intelligence that would be supportive of policy. Feith's reports supported the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Tenet got into trouble with the Bush administration for not sufficiently supporting Feith's intelligence projects in a team spirit. The most memorable part of Tenet's massive book is his detailed explanation of how he kept trying to keep the CIA from being too politicized to do its mission. At that time some of Tenet's most trusted friends advised him to resign to protect his reputation. Tenet stayed on. He's quite direct about regretting that decision for personal reasons.

The Bush administration apparently was not pleased with Tenet's attempts to hedge himself professionally in an attempt to remain blameless should the Iraq War not turn out well. This was hard on Tenet and his family, but nevertheless Tenet remained loyal to the president. One learns reading this book that while the public life of top government officials appears glamorous, it is actually gut-wrenching.

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice made it clear to Tenet that he had to support policy. Tenet accommodated them either unwittingly or reluctantly. If you believe everything in his book, he supported the Iraq War unwittingly. The reality might be that he supported it reluctantly. This I believe is the fulcrum upon which history will judge Tenet.

The reason I gave this book 5 stars is that it gives an education in how the CIA works and how intelligence agencies in general work. We don't often get a former Director of CIA putting great effort into explaining the workings of the intelligence community. Tenet was highly motivated to provide this education because it was part of what he had to do to restore his reputation. We cannot properly assign responsibility to Tenet unless we understand how this agency functions.

Possibly American citizens will remain a bit confused about what led to the Iraq War. Intelligence failure is often cited as the cause. I think Tenet's book set the record straight on that particular issue.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (80)

Very interesting book about a pivotal time
George Tenet in his book At the Center of the Strom takes readers through his time as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI).At the time this position included the running of the CIA, being responsible for coordinating information from all intelligence agencies and being the primary supplier of intelligence information to the president.The book is written in a very straight talk manner and is easy to follow.Tenet who served an abnormally long tenure through two presidents as DCI made several contributions to defining the way we approach the war on terror.The start of the war in Afghanistan was primarily a CIA directed effort and much of the thinking on how to fight terrorism had come in the CIA think tanks prior to 9/11.His story conforms with much that has been written in the 9/11 commission and by books from authors such as Richard Clarke so while not a lot of new things are available for the reader we do receive more confirmation on what likely happened in the months leading up to 9/11 and the day of the event.

There are several nuggets in this book that are new to the readers and provide a great look at what was happening about terrorism during Tenet's 7 year tenure.One is the inside look at the peace process under Clinton and what went wrong with Arafat at the end of 2000.This is largely confirmed by other sources but Tenet tells the story the best.The dismantling of the A. Q. Kahn nuclear network is another great covered gem that provides readers access to one of the more chilling events in U. S. Intelligence history.From tracking down the Pakistani network to the surrendering of Libya's nuclear program the story is worth reading about.

Finally the last third of the book is spent on the war in Iraq and trying to have damage control about the CIA's role.Tenet tries to vigorously defend himself from his "Slam Dunk" comment that gave Colin Powell the information needed to go to the UN to justify war.As of now we still don't have enough accounts but it sounds like these words were used and the strenuous defense Tenet makes was hard to swallow especially when we goes on to say that Powell's presentation was very good and credible.While I have no doubt Tenet did explain the lack of intelligence I am left believing he did make the comment.It is fairly easy to infer that Tenet thought the war in Iraq was a mistake and no steps were taken to plan an exit strategy.

Overall this is a great read that while a little long will hold your interest. Tenet talks straight and addresses a wide range of subjects over a pivotal point in our history.He comes off as more honest and less biased compared to some who have written on this time frame.Finally one of the reasons I always like to read political books like this is not only to get the story at the time but to see what a day in the life of that high government position that few Americans will ever have the chance to hold.Tenet does a great job of showing what life as a DCI was like and how it can impact your family.A great book and one I highly encourage to be read.

The CIA from the inside
George Tenet has done a valuable service to the American Public by writing his book and having it published.He has told the story of why there were shortcomings within the intelligence community and the efforts to place politics above national security in many instances. His story of how the CIA ultimatly concluded that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and the commencement of hostilities in the belief that it did is compelling. His chapter entitled "No Authority, Direction, or Control" says it all.

Educational and Voluminous
This book helped me understand why the CIA took the blame for "intelligence failure" as part of the political process in Washington. Tenet had many successes during his long stint as Director of the CIA, especially in the early years of the war in Afghanistan.One could criticize him for seeming too eager to please the president and perhaps he should have positioned the CIA to be more independent.But as Tenet shows in this book, politics makes running an agency difficult.

Tenet used all his personal and professional resources to win allies to the U.S. cause.I think Tenet did remarkably well and displayed talent for this type of work.Apart from that I liked him based on his biography.His Greek-Albanian roots and parents' sacrifices to achieve the American dream for their sons inspired.

The CIA does not set policy nor does it have a seat among the cabinet officials.This agency is not in the inner power loop.Tenet's political position was weakened because he was of the Clinton administration and not among Bush's inner circle.The Bush administration looked to Tenet to provide cover for getting into the Iraq War.One must understand that the administration did this out of genuine beliefs and even ideology.

George Tenet did not share the ideology of Bush's inner circle.He felt that by remaining in his position as CIA Director, he could mitigate damage to the CIA.This was a very difficult position to be in.One could also take a critical approach to judging Tenet's tenure at the agency because his book shows that he and others at the agency perceived an impending disaster in the U.S. policy regarding Iraq.I do not feel as strongly critical of Tenet as some because he was in a horribly difficult ethical position.

Tenet's book is a really a detailed defense of his career.The first part covered the fight against terror.It showed that when there is less partisan bickering in Washington, the CIA can be extraordinarily effective and deliver fair returns on the public investment.The CIA is not so effective at influencing policy, and if policy is flawed, it can be rendered somewhat ineffective in its mission.

In the effort to win over the American people to go to war in Iraq, intelligence shaping became important to the administration.Douglas Feith, who reported directly to Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, spearheaded the effort to create intelligence that would be supportive of policy.Feith's reports supported the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Tenet got into trouble with the Bush administration for not sufficiently supporting Feith's intelligence projects in a team spirit.The most memorable part of Tenet's massive book is his detailed explanation of how he kept trying to keep the CIA from being too politicized to do its mission.At that time some of Tenet's most trusted friends advised him to resign to protect his reputation.Tenet stayed on.He's quite direct about regretting that decision for personal reasons.

The Bush administration apparently was not pleased with Tenet's attempts to hedge himself professionally in an attempt to remain blameless should the Iraq War not turn out well.This was hard on Tenet and his family, but nevertheless Tenet remained loyal to the president.One learns reading this book that while the public life of top government officials appears glamorous, it is actually gut-wrenching.

Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice made it clear to Tenet that he had to support policy.Tenet accommodated them either unwittingly or reluctantly.If you believe everything in his book, he supported the Iraq War unwittingly.The reality might be that he supported it reluctantly.This I believe is the fulcrum upon which history will judge Tenet.

The reason I gave this book 5 stars is that it gives an education in how the CIA works and how intelligence agencies in general work.We don't often get a former Director of CIA putting great effort into explaining the workings of the intelligence community.Tenet was highly motivated to provide this education because it was part of what he had to do to restore his reputation.We cannot properly assign responsibility to Tenet unless we understand how this agency functions.

Possibly American citizens will remain a bit confused about what led to the Iraq War.Intelligence failure is often cited as the cause.I think Tenet's book set the record straight on that particular issue.

No Footnotes, Much Opinion
Mr. Tenet is a great storyteller.The melodrama is rampant here.Where does the story end and the truth begin?There is only an index at the back of this book.No footnotes whatsoever.Other books that I have read from former gov't officials have copies of un- or de-classified memos and documents to back up their arguements.Arbitrary discretion does not inspire confidence in the story.It will always be a mystery to me as to the reasoning behind President Bush keeping this holdover from the Clinton administration on as CIA director.Mr. "slam-dunk" fails again.

Fortunately, I waited to buy this from the "bargain books" list.Read the book, just take what he says with a grain of salt.

Tenet at his Unconvincing Best
Befitting a decorated ex-CIA head, this book by George Tenet is "artful political and moral ambiguity at its transparent best." It is equal parts: "after-the-fact expose" of Bush/Cheney Machiavellian incompetence, a chronology of bureaucratic in-fighting and turf battles; Tenet's own self-serving "CYA rationalizations" (especially for his most embarrassing and ignominious "slam dunk" moment); a summary of CIA history including many of it recent exploits in the new era of terrorism; plus a lot of inchoate soul-searching and "insider bureaucratic baseball."

Along with other "shunted aside" Bush insiders, Tenet, is yet another "come-to-Jesus" confessor who has belatedly confirmed what most of us now already know: that even as Cheney and Bush were entering the White House, Iraqi II was already a fait accompli: "a war in search of a reason d'etre." It was already on "the drawing boards" looking for clever justifications to sell to the American people as to why U.S. vital interests were at stake. And it was Tenet's own "twisted and dissembled" intelligence that was used to do the job of selling it to us.

Despite this open secret that constantly stares back up at us from the subtext of the book, somehow Tenet remains in denial about how greatly his image and legacy are tarnished by the moral cowardice implicit in his repeated failures to step up to the plate and live up to the only responsibility a CIA Director has: To provide the President of the U.S. sound, independent over-the-horizon intelligence.

Here, rather curiously, Mr. Tenet seems to think that he can retain his moral virginity by covering his moral nakedness and irresponsibility by attacking the White House "only when his own ox is gored." He adopts this transparently unsustainable "fair weather" moral posture even as it is clear to the reader that it is Tenet's own CIA colleagues that get thrown under the bus as he does so. And while there is a great deal interesting about the book, no matter how Tenet attempted to embellish it, everything in the book is over-shadowed by the image of him groveling at the throne occupied by Cheney and Bush. Even after reading this book, that image remains a disturbingly un-pretty picture.

I have read enough CIA history to know that Tenet was a bright and competent administrator, with the agency's mission at heart, but nothing he says in this book can remove the stain of his failure to step up to the plate and defend his own analysts who had the "true skinny" in the run up to the Iraq war. Had those analysts had a boss with a backbone, America may have been spared the costly fiasco of the Iraq war.


No matter how many Congressional Medals of Honor Tenet is awarded, I will never be able to get the "slam dunk" image out of my mind. Three stars ... Read more

Product Description
Attempts to develop students' and teachers' understanding of dance as a performing art through the use of examplars of professional dance on videotape. The book aims to provide factual information on professional dance works covering a range of different dance styles arising from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The material develops the National Curriculum programmes of study for dance across the Key Stages, using professional dance as a resource. Specific, practical ideas relate to units of work and resources include worksheets for students. ... Read more