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Zbigniew Brzezinski grades the three most recent presidents on their foreign policy.

No one familiar with Brzezinski's work or his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq will be surprised to learn that George W. Bush is the dunce of his presidential class. His chapter on the current administration is titled "Catastrophic Leadership," and he gives Bush II a resounding F. But Brzezin-ski's tone changes dramatically in these pages. Detached appraisal gives way to caricature and denunciation. Bush is at once a simple-minded "Manichaean," obsessed with "good and evil," and a cynical manipulator, "propagating fear and paranoia" in order to win votes. He is guilty not only of "Islamophobic demagogy" but of using democracy promotion as a "subversive tool," meant to create an excuse for deploying force.