The Commission

The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation

By: Philip Shenon

Narrated by: Dave Mallow

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

In a work of history that made headlines, New York Times reporter Philip Shenon investigates the investigation of 9/11 and tells the inside story of the most important federal commission since the the Warren Commission.

Shenon uncovers startling new information about the inner workings of the 9/11 Commission and its relationship with the Bush White House. The Commission will change your understanding of the 9/11 investigation - and of the attacks themselves.

©2008 Philip Shenon (P)2008 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Shenon is a skillful writer and storyteller as well as a dogged reporter....He has a keen grasp of human frailty and folly." (The New York Times)
"I literally could not put it down....It owes a lot to Robert Ludlum. I felt I was reading a teleplay for 24."(Time)
"A startling, riveting, disturbing read about the "uncensored" History of the 9/11 investigation." (Publishers Weekly)

Didn’t want to stop listening

I was listening to this while I was painting my house and I didn’t want to stop listening. I was appalled at some of the findings… and how much things are hidden from the public. Anyways, it was an extremely entertaining book.

Met expectations

What did you love best about The Commission?

I really liked the delivery of this book and the story behind it.

What did you like best about this story?

After reading the 9/11 commission report, this book was extremely interested and could make a connection between the two.

What about Dave Mallow’s performance did you like?

I liked the tone of Dave Mallow's performance. It was easy to engage in the book and could understand every word.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

How the heck did this happen!?

Very detailed

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book has a lot of details. More info than I was looking for but don't let that deter you from buying it. It has some great information in it.

This Book Fills in a Few Missing Pieces

The Commission definitely has a liberal bias; however, what I found interesting about the book is that it gives the reader some background on most of the commissioners along with the staff members. For instance, if I had not listened to this book, I would have never known that Philip Zelikow, the Executive Director of the Commission and its day-to-day manager, had a cozy relationship with National Security Adviser, Condoleezza. Although the 9/11 Commission states in the Preface of its report that they were not out to assign individual blame, whether you're Liberal, Moderate (as I am) or Conservative, it caused me to view the entire report with some suspicion and then discovering that the Commission's executive Director was an acolyte of one of the Bush Administration's major figures, it added an even healthier dose of skepticism to my viewing of the report.

I particularly enjoyed his recounting of how the 911 Commission evolved after a number of widows of 9/11 forced Henry Kissinger's recusal from his Chairman's position because he refused to disclose the client list of his highly regard firm, Kissinger Associates.

Despite it's Liberal slant, Shenon does a good job filling in the missing pieces that are left out of the 9/11 Commission Report. As the old wise man once told me - "Eat the meat and pick the bones." It was certainly worth my time.

I liked it .

gives subjective information through a mild story .I thought it was told in a way that made me want to keep reading.

Hack jop -2 stars

A political hack job. The author has an agenda and presents all evidents to support it. If any evidents disagrees with his views, he simply ignores it or shades it. A waste of 6 hr

Completely biased

I read the author’s other book about the Warren Commission, and was pleased. I decided to try this one, since it seemed like a fascinating topic! Very early on, the author’s biases is plainly clear. Instead of a neutral telling of the story (like the Warren book is), this is a blatant attack on Bush. I’m not a political person, (if Bush was to blame so be it) but this was just frustrating.

Super Partisan

This was written as a hit piece on the Bush Administration, especially Condoleezza Rice. In Shenon’s telling you are led to believe they new what would happen and chose to ignore it. While there is enough blame to go around, Shenon cherry-picks details and leaves out context. He puts almost all blame on the FBI and glosses over any mistakes by the CIA. Pretty worthless as a history of the investigation. The narrator is stiflingly boring.