Dead Certain is a story told in six sections. Beginning with an immersion into Bush the nascent politician (entitled Baptism), we see in Through Our Tears a mandate-less new President evincing both collegiality and defensiveness as he pursues his conservative agenda. Dark City On A Hill describes the contentiousness that attends the roll-up to Iraq and the queasy slide from Mission Accomplished to the occupation of a broken nation.The final section, A Laying On Of Hands, finds a once-swaggering presidency desperately moving from one gambit to another in an effort to right its sagging agenda, culminating in the 2006 midterm elections that decide the fate of a hobbled administration.

Far from being a retelling of well-known events, Dead Certain plumbs both the natural drama and the behind-the-scenes granularity of George W. Bush's episodic presidency. It will be regarded as a classic, inside account of this troubled presidency.