Some useful information in here. Very introductory, but has a lot of information in there that the average person wouldn't know.

The actual meat of the book is buried beneath ridiculous metaphors, cartoons and elfs, and silly pop culture references. At least 50% of the book is completely useless, and this is why I'm giving it 2 stars.

There must be something else out there that has the same substance to it, but in a much better form. I could not stand reading much of this book in its entirety, so I started skipping over the hundreds of page filling drivel in search of useful information.

If they have this book at the library, maybe grab it and flip through it. But look for something better to buy.

I will summarize what's in this book so you can decide for yourself whether or not it's worth reading, because it isn't a book for everyone.

It covers very little about Harper's personal life. It makes little or no mention of his wife and kids and only describes his upbringing briefly so you can get an idea of his background. So, if you're looking for a warm and fuzzy book to get to know "Steve" and the ins and outs of his daily life, this is not a book for you.

This is for someone who has an interest in the political history of the last 20 years centered around Harper. It attempts to detail what got Mr. Harper into politics, and how his political ideology was formed. It then describes where he stands on the issues in politics from the Mulroney years through to the Martin years. If you're not familiar with the Reform party, you will learn a lot about it and the other leaders of it, such as Manning and Day.

The author attempts to make Harper's thoughts clear on the major issues on the political scene over the last 20 years with many direct quotes from Harper's speeches and documents. If your political history is weak you may learn a bit about the Meech lake/Charlottetown accords, the separatist movement during these years, Mulroney, Chretien, Manning, and so on.

I found the author very fair and objective for the most part. A lot of the minor details that people contest in this book are irrelevant anyway. To gain something from this book you don't need to accept the author's views on Harper and the events; you can weed through the quotes and information, do your own research from there, and figure it out yourself.

This book is 700 long pages with historical information that could be done in about about 100.

If you enjoy reading someone's personal account on conflict, then mr. fisk is the right author for you. 100's of pages of this book is about his day-to-day activities and brings in characters like other journalists in detail.

If you are looking to learn more about the middle east, or a straight historical account of the war in lebanon, this isn't the book for you.

Fisk is very good at detailing events, massacres, etc... but if you have a thirst for knowledge, this book will leave you thinking "what am I getting out of these hours of reading" as you make your way through it.

Very thorougly done. Groundbreaking information... well documented sources to back it up.

Fascinating read--very few uninteresting stretches