"The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond" serves as a wonderful organizational guide of the White House, principally describing the responsibilities of the major policy offices and how the senior personnel discharges these responsibilities. In doing this, author Bradley Patterson makes his major argument that policy implementation and coordination is being drawn away from line departments and centralized in the White House.

From national security advisor to press secretary, Patterson does a great job describing in detail what each position does. Patterson divides the book into four parts. The first part, a short two chapters, tries to position the reader atop the "White House gates" by showing the overall organization and how post-war presidents have all strengthened power in the White House. The second part takes up the bulk of the book, as Patterson goes into detail about the "not-so-bashful bureaucracy" and explores each position and office. Part three is one short chapter about the professional staff of the White House, including information on Air Force One, Camp David, the Secret Service, and more. This chapter is quite interesting. The final part of the book is spent looking to the future of White House service.

In the end, this book is a thorough description of what goes on in the White House. It is a long read, and I do not recommend reading it in one sitting (unless you are about to work in the White House!). Instead, this book is a great way to read about the broad organization of the White House (part 1). The reader can then explore the offices or position that he is interested in. This is perhaps the most beneficial quality of the book - it is organized in such a way to allow the reader to jump around from topic to topic. "The White House Staff" in effect is the "Dummies guide" to the White House and serves as awesome reference material.

This book was informative, engaging and very revealing. Patterson systematically unveils the various departments and duties of the little recognized White House Office. Although it is a long read, the knowledge gleaned from this book is practical and valuable.

The reference book that makes it all comes together. Ok so the book does not really bill its self as a dull reference book but it has all the info needed to understand who does what in the White House. The book is anything but dull, the author has broken down the different departments within the White House and explains each of them in just a wonderful, easy to understand manner. In order to stay away from just a dull listing of the tasks the author drops in interesting facts and stories from the last few administrations that bring extra meaning and understanding to the explanations.

A good, well-written book that will help the reader understand who does what in the White House.