Playing President: My Close Ecounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush

Robert Scheer’s interviews with and profiles of US presidents have shaped journalism history. Scheer developed close journalistic relationships with Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush I. His reporting on them had a tangible impact on national debate, such as the eminent 1976 Playboy interview in which Jimmy Carter, the then-presidential candidate, admitted to have lusted in his heart; and the 1980 interview with the L.A. Times , during which Bush I confessed to Scheer his dream of a “winnable nuclear war.”

In Playing President , Robert Scheer offers an unparalleled insight into the presidential mind. He analyses each administration since Nixon, and including George W. Bush, offering insights that will surprise the reader—particularly those with rigid preconceptions about the decision-making processes of our leaders. The volume will also include reprints of Scheer’s famous presidential interviews, along with previously unpublished interview transcripts and select previous writings.

Robert Scheer is the author of six books, including Thinking Tuna Fish , Talking Essays on the Pornography of Power ; With Enough Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War ; and America After The Age of Multinationals . Along with Christopher Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry, he is the coauthor of The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq (Seven Stories/Akashic). Scheer is currently a clinical professor of communications at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. He is a nationally syndicated columnist based at the Los Angeles Times , a contributing editor at the Nation , and a host of NPR-affiliate KCRW’s Left, Right, and Center .