Abstract
Several book reviews were published prior to the publication of “Fear: Trump in the White House” on September 11, 2018, with emphasis on “terrifying scenes” (e.g., John F, Kelly reportedly said that Trump is an “idiot”). These reviews, however, did not discuss two major problems in “Fear,” namely, the contexts (i.e., environments, locations, settings, etc.) in which dialogues in “Fear” occurred and the probability that Woodward’s “sources” were present in such contexts, as well as the probability that such “sources” remembered and then reported verbatim extensive dialogues between two or more individuals in “Fear,” because of the limited capacity of the human short-term memory. This commentary suggests that Woodward did not “fabricate” the contents of “Fear,” as claimed by some in the White House, but argues that Woodward honestly believed what his “sources” reported to him without questioning such “sources” regarding the two major problems in “Fear.”
Highlights
Before the publication of “Fear: Trump in the White House” (“Fear”) on September 11, 2018, it was the number one bestseller on Amazon, with over one million copies ordered
Did not carefully screened “Fear” regarding the probability that thousands of verbal exchanges or extensive dialogues mentioned in the book are most likely examples of fiction mixed with real events
In its present format, “Fear” is a book of fiction mixed with real events
Summary
Before the publication of “Fear: Trump in the White House” (“Fear”) on September 11, 2018, it was the number one bestseller on Amazon, with over one million copies ordered. Did not carefully screened “Fear” regarding the probability that thousands of verbal exchanges or extensive dialogues mentioned in the book are most likely examples of fiction mixed with real events The aim of this commentary is to help readers of “Fear” to find out when they are reading in “Fear” about real events versus events produced by the imagination of Woodward’s “sources.”. Another problem with “Fear” is the report of extensive verbal exchanges among people cited in the book but in the absence of the exact date when such exchanges occurred. Before I comment on Woodward’s “Fear,” it is important to alert readers that this commentary may validate some of the White House’s responses to Bob Woodward’s book, this is a scholarly critique of “Fear” which reflects editorial standards I have used in prior book reviews I have published in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Paniagua, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010)
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