Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight »

Karl Rove served as Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush from 2000?2007 and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2004?2007. He now writes a weekly op-ed for The Wall Street Journal and is a Newsweek columnist and contributor to Fox News.

From the moment he set foot on it, Karl Rove has rocked America's political stage. He ran the national College Republicans at twenty-two, and turned a Texas dominated by Democrats into a bastion for Republicans. He launched George W. Bush to national renown by unseating a popular Democratic governor, and then orchestrated a GOP White House win at a time when voters had little reason to throw out the incumbent party. For engineering victory after unlikely victory, Rove became known as "the Architect."

Because of his success, Rove has been attacked his entire career, accused of everything from campaign chicanery to ideological divisiveness. In this frank memoir, Rove responds to critics, passionately articulates his political philosophy, and defends the choices he made on the campaign trail and in the White House. In the course of putting the record straight, Rove takes on Democratic leaders like Harry Reid and Tom Daschle who acted cynically or deviously behind closed doors, and even Republicans who lacked backbone at crucial moments.

Among other controversial topics Rove addresses, he sets the record straight on:

• The facts of his mother's suicide and reports of his father's alleged homosexuality
• The accusation that he bugged his own office in Texas
• The real story of how George W. Bush defeated governor Ann Richards
• The details of Bush's stealth campaign to win the White House in 2000
• Why Bush cratered in New Hampshire but prevailed in South Carolina in 2000
• How Bush chose Dick Cheney as his presidential running mate
• How the Bush campaign managed Bush's DUI
• The defection of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords
• The frustrating challenges of Hurricane Katrina
• The facts behind Rove's painful three years fending off a federal indictment, and
• Why Obama is wrong on healthcare

Courage and Consequence is also the first intimate account from the highest level at the White House of one of the most headline-making presidencies of the modern age. Rove takes readers behind the scenes of:

• The bitterly contested 2000 presidential contest
• Every tense minute aboard Air Force One on 9/11
• The decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and
• The hard-won 2004 reelection fight

Rove is candid about his mistakes in the West Wing and in his campaigns, and talks frankly about the heartbreak of his early family years. He spells out what it takes to win elections and how to govern successfully once a candidate has won. But Courage and Consequence is ultimately about the joy of a life committed to the conservative cause, a life spent in political combat and service to country, no matter the costs.

The New York Times - Mark Halperin

…Courage and Consequence is an entertaining and enlightening memoir, written by a man who is well aware he will continue to be a polarizing figure no matter where he goes from here.

Prologue: The Road to History ix

1 A Broken Family on the Western Front 1

2 King of the College Republicans 23

3 Planting Roots in Texas 44

4 What Is a Rovian Campaign? 64

5 Conquering Texas 80

6 A New Kind of Governor 99

7 Glimmers of the White House 112

8 The Grand Plan 123

9 Stung by New Hampshire, Rescued by South Carolina 137

10 The Big Mo' 157

11 The Cheney Choice 166

12 Derailed by a DUI 177

13 Thirty-six Days in Hell 201

14 The Real West Wing 217

15 Thinking Big 234

16 9/11 249

17 Ground Zero 268

18 Striking Back 285

19 What Bipartisanship? 305

20 Joe Wilson's Attack 318

21 Bush Was Right on Iraq 332

22 The Special Prosecutor and Me 344

23 Getting Ready for Kerry 361

24 Drugs and Marriage 372

25 Trapping Kerry, Making Peace with McCain 378

26 Suspense and Victory 387

27 The Democrats Unleashed 404

28 Anything for a Scalp 425

29 Katrina 443

30 Republicans on the Run 460

31 The Surge 471

32 Yes, It Was Fun 485

33 Leaving the White House 493

34 Rove: the Myth 504

35 Obama: the Myth 517

Epilogue 535

Notes 539

Acknowledgments 589

Index 593