clipped from: www.npr.org In The Ghost, Harris tells the story of a ghostwriter called in to help a former prime minister finish his multi-million-dollar memoir.
Harris, a former columnist for Sunday Times of London, has known Blair since 1992. "We had our ups and downs, but we didn't really fall out until the invasion of Iraq, which made no sense to me," Harris says.
Harris also explores the isolation and distance from reality faced by people in power.
"I think it's very, very hard not to go slightly crazy if you're in the top in politics — especially if you're there for a long time," he says.
"I don't think a lot of world leaders these days are very well-read. I don't think Mr. Blair knew very much about the Middle East. I think that he assumed that invading Iraq would be a walkover, or at least that the Americans would sort it all out.
"It's that kind of isolation and shallowness that's bred by the modern media age where we seem to have lost depth in our politicians."
