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"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much." - Rumsfeld's Rules
Few Americans have spent more time near the center of power than Donald
Rumsfeld. Now he has written an unflinching memoir of his half-century
career, sharing previously undisclosed details that will fascinate readers
and force historians to rethink many controversies.

Starting from a middle-class childhood in Illinois, Rumsfeld had a rapid
rise that won him early acclaim. He shows us what it was like growing up
during the Great Depression and World War II, going to Princeton on scholar-
ships, serving as a naval aviator, then getting his first political job on
Capitol Hill during the Eisenhower administration. He recalls how he won
a seat in the House of Representatives at age thirty and what he experienced
as a Republican in Congress during the Kennedy and Johnson years.

We also follow him back to the executive branch as he took on key cabinet
positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including his service as
the youngest-ever secretary of defense, just after the trauma of Vietnam.
And we learn about the challenges he later faced as a CEO in the private
sector, and during his special assignments for President Reagan, including
a face-to-face meeting with Saddam Hussein in 1983.

All of that would have been enough material for a fascinating book. But
as 2001 began, Rumsfeld's greatest challenges lay ahead of him. At age
sixty-eight he returned to the Pentagon as President Bush's secretary of
defense, with a mandate to transform the military for a new century. Just
nine months later he would confront the worst acts of terrorism in American
history, followed by unexpected wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And he would
be on the firing line for many controversies, from the revelations of abuse
at Abu Ghraib prison to allegations of torture at Guantanamo Bay.

Known and Unknown reveals what happened behind the scenes during the
critical moments of the Bush years, as the President's inner circle debated
how best to defend our country. It is based not only on Rumsfeld's memory
but also on hundreds of previously unreleased documents from throughout his
career. It also features his blunt, firsthand opinions about some of the
world's best-known figures, from Margaret Thatcher to Elvis Presley, from
Henry Kissinger to Colin Powell, and about each American president from
Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush.

In a famous press briefing, Rumsfeld once remarked that "there are also
unknown unknowns . . . things we do not know we don't know." His book makes
us realize just how much we didn't know.

Donald Rumsfeld is donating his proceeds from the sales of Known and Unknown
to the military charities supported by the Rumsfeld Foundation.

Donald Rumsfeld was the thirteenth and twenty-first U.S. secretary of defense.
He currently chairs the Rumsfeld Foundation, which supports leadership and
public service at home and the growth of free political and free economic
systems abroad. The Rumsfeld Foundation funds global microfinance projects,
fellowships for graduate students interested in public service, linkages
between young leaders from central Asia and the United States, and charitable
causes that benefit the men and women of the U.S. armed forces and their
families. Married in 1954, he and his wife Joyce have three children and seven
grandchildren. They currently reside in New Mexico.

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