Known and Unknown: A Memoir

I've always been a Donald Rumsfeld fan. I thought he was an excellent Secretary of Defense for President Bush. He was plain spoken to the point and very intuitive. He was commonsensical when much of that was missing from Washington. This book explains what happened from his point of view. It gives the reader his perspective without the politics of media or the political machine that thrives on destroying people's reputation. Their mantra, if it bleeds it leads.The one thing missing in the book was the story about Secretary Rumsfeld sending form condolence letters to families of military KIA. The letters were purportedly computer signed by him and not an original signature. I did have a problem with that when the story broke. He admitted he was doing that and changed to original signatures after that.Other than that, great book highly recommend. He served his country well.

Known and Unknown is a remarkable and compelling book that reveals how much we don't know about Donald Rumsfeld whom we may know only know through the often critical media coverage his years as seceretary of defense has received. Mr. Rumsfeld, however, may well get you to reconsider what you think that you know and do not know about him and his life and work, especially about his years at the defense department during the Iraq War. Mr. Rumsfeld writes clearly and straightforwardly, as he did in the famous "snowflake" memoes he showered on his staff to highlight situations and to clarify his expectations of them. He ties his narrative at every turn to specific sources that, in the era of unsubstantiated assertions, is rare, refreshing, and an education at least as interesting as that of Henry Adams. Mr. Rumsfeld takes us through his own energetic life, marked by a rich store of experience in such roles as White House chief of staff, ambassador to NATO, and CEO. of G.D. Searle, challenging what may be perceptions we have accepted and filed away in our hard drive hearts. His plainspoken lack of theatricality accents the real drama of his active involvement - for we meet here no Hamlet-like ambiguity about life and workby - from the Vietnam war that smoldered through the end of the 20th century to the asymmetrical war by terror that exploded at the beginning of the 21st. You would be forced to turn to a figure like Benjamin Franklin to find another man so deeply involved in so many ways in the great events of his time. Mr. Rumsfeld's careful and thorough documentation allows the reader to examine the sources and context of his interpretations, giving a strength to the latter that is absent in most memoirs as well as in the often critical media evaluations that have been made about him and his decisions. A truly stimulating book by a man who, modestly and never argumentatively but always pointedly, makes known so much that is unknown or partially known about himself and his robust role in recent history.

I titled my review of this book the way I did for a very specific reason. Donald Rumsfeld was, whether you liked him or not -- or, more specifically, whether you agreed with him or not -- a very important individual involved with the shaping of our country for the better part of half a century. Discounting his words would be a rather foolish position for anyone who fancies them self as a student of government or modern history.As Rumsfeld is somewhat of a controversial figure, I think it's important to break the review into two separate parts: how it is written and then the content itself.Readability: Judging the book based solely on the quality of writing, I would highly recommend this book. Rumsfeld writes in a very personable fashion -- much like the voice you would imagine he has in person. It is quite easy to see yourself being talked to in a manner that would reflect how he wrote his memoirs. Granted, this carries a negative connotation for some, as many saw him as brash and arrogant. Make no mistake, the arrogance is there, but not in the way most would assume it to be. He has the type of confidence that enabled him to be successful at some of the highest levels of government and private business, and that attitude certainly comes through in his writing. Though this is surely my own opinion, it does not come through in a way that suggests he believes himself to be better or smarter than anyone else; it comes through that he truly believes he did mostly the right things and that he was good at what he did -- namely, managing people.Content: This leads me to the actual subject matter of the book. To properly address that, I think it is important to address one of the chief criticisms of the book -- that Rumsfeld supposedly never admits to ever doing anything wrong. This is flatly and demonstrably false. In my own opinion it shows that a person never read the book all the way through and, as such, their criticism should be dismissed. Rumsfeld, on more than one occasion, admits to mistakes and that things could have been done better by him during numerous points of his career.It is on this very premise -- the notion of knowing or not knowing the right thing to do -- that the very title of the book is based. And it is from that seemingly-odd philosophical statement that provides a backdrop for most of Rumsfeld's life -- he simply did the best he could with what he knew and when it came to make a decision, he did so without dithering. If one proceeds through life with that philosophy, mistakes are inevitable. It is the dichotomy of leadership; making a decision could lead to negative consequences, but not making a decision almost assuredly will.As mentioned above, it would be short-sighted for any student of history or government to ignore this book. Simply put, there aren't many events in the last half of the 20th century (as well as the first decade of the 21st) that Rumsfeld was not involved in. Naval aviator, Congressman, White House Chief of Staff, SecDef (twice), CEO of a major corporation; halfway through the book I would not have been the least bit shocked if Rummy wrote that he had been sitting with John, Paul, George and Ringo while they recorded "Rubber Soul." I have personally never read a memoir by anyone who has been involved in more history-shaping events than Donald Rumsfeld.I can also say that I was personally involved with some of the events of this book, having joined the Army shortly after 9/11. What I was involved with is not important for the sake of the review, but it is important from the perspective that, while many disagree with what Rumsfeld did or did not do, his personal accounts make sense. They "jive," so to speak, with the reality of the situations described (at least insofar as the War on Terror). Again, whether you agree with him or not is not the point; it is to say that his decisions and courses of action followed a very logical pattern given the situation at the time.I could go on in detail about the specifics, but I believe the most important thing to remember is that this is a tremendously important work in that it chronicles a very important figure's involvement with several seminal moments of the last 50+ years. I highly recommend it on that alone, and encourage anyone who has an interest in current events to read it with an open mind. Don't cast it aside simply because you belong to a different political party or because you believe "9/11 was an inside job, man!" Read it and appreciate it for what it is: a well-written memoir from an extremely important figure.As a final note, I gave the book four stars instead of five for two reasons: One, I'm a slow reader and this is a really, really long book. I know that's a selfish reason, but hey, it's my review. And two, I can't go handing out five stars all the time, as it just wouldn't seem right, ya know?

Wake up America. Read this book! Donald Rumsfeld was the right man at the right place at the right time. He devoted his life to serving our nation. His leadership was and still is an unparalleled example of the skill, wisdom and guts necessary to fulfill the position of Secretary of Defense of the United States of America. In our uncertain times and unquestionable challenges, he made the difficultdecisions and proffered courses of action demanded of the world's only super power to ignore the misinformed and spiteful allegations of political hacks and conduct the moral and righteous guidance to wage our response to the despicable forces of evil that have sought to dominate the entire world. Our nation owes him our gratitude and respect. Thank you, Mr. Secretary!