Product Overview
The inspiring and revelatory autobiography of the defense secretaryand CIA director who led the intelligence war that killed Bin Laden,among many important roles in a legendary career
It could be said that Leon Panetta has had two ofthe most consequential careers of any Americanpublic servant in the past fifty years. His firstcareer, beginning as an army intelligence officerand including a distinguished run as one ofCongresss most powerful and respected members,lasted thirty-five years and culminated in histransformational role as Clintons budget czarand White House chief of staff. He then retiredto establish the Panetta Institute with his wife offifty years, Sylvia; to serve on the Iraq Study Group;and to protect his beloved California coastline. Butin 2009, he accepted what many said was a thanklesstask: returning to public office as the director ofthe CIA, taking it from a state of turmoil after theBush-era torture debates and moving it back tothe vital center of Americas war against Al Qaeda,including the campaign that led to the killing ofOsama bin Laden. And then, in the wake of binLadens death, Panetta became the U.S. secretaryof defense, inheriting two troubled wars in a timeof austerity and painful choices.
Like his career, Worthy Fights is a reflectionof Panettas values. It is imbued with the frank,grounded, and often quite funny spirit of a manwho never lost touch with where he came from:his familys walnut farm in beautiful Carmel Valley,California. It is also a testament to a lost kind ofpolitical leadership, which favors progress and dutyto country over partisanship. Panetta is a Democratwho pushed for balanced budgets while alsoexpanding care for the elderly and sick; a devoutCatholic who opposes the death penalty but hadto weigh every drone strike from 2009 through2011. Throughout his career, Panettas polestar hasbeen his belief that a public servants real choice isbetween leadership or crisis. Troubles always comeabout through no fault of ones own, but most canbe prevented with courage and foresight.
As always, Panetta calls them as he sees themin Worthy Fights. Suffused with its authors decencyand stubborn common sense, the book is an epicAmerican success story, a great political memoir,and a revelatory view onto many of the greatfigures and events of our time.
