Book review: 'The Obamians' examines a small, powerful inner circle

Back in 2004, when James Mann wrote "Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet," he took full advantage of the sarcastic nickname that President George W. Bush's foreign policy advisors gave themselves. It not only captured their ideological zeal and outsized egos, but was an inside joke: the neo-cons liked the allusion to "Star Trek's" über-rational humanoids, and future Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had grown up near a statue of another Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times

July 31, 2012