Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side has been named a 2008 National Book Award Finalist. The Dark Side is a riveting narrative account of how the U.S. made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists—decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda.

Visit the National Book Foundation to learn more. View the complete list of finalists, here.

In The Dark Side, Jane Mayer chronicles the terrible and destructive decisions the Bush administration made in the name of fighting terrorism. It has received national attention by both periodicals and politicians alike. Below are some highlights:

• In “Answering Terror with Terror,” Salon.com states: The Dark Side is about how the war on terror became ‘a war on American ideals,’ and Mayer gives this story all the weight and sorrow it deserves. Many books get tagged with the word ‘essential’; hers actually is.”
• “Mayer’s singular accomplishment is to fuse the years of events that have brought us to this pass into a single compelling narrative and to use her own considerable reportorial powers to fill in important connective and contextual events.” — Los Angeles Times
• Readers can find similar praise at Bloomberg.com and The New York Observer

In the nation’s capital? Meet Jane Mayer at Politics and Prose on July 24 at 7pm. View a complete tour schedule, here.