Deep Truth: The Lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Though hardly comprehensive, this dual biography of the famed Watergate case journalists directs potent accusations at their work. Havill ( The Last Mogul: The Unauthorized Biography of Jack Kent Cooke ) got little cooperation from friends of his subjects, yet he has cobbled together credible sketches of the Calvinistic Bob Woodward and the free-wheeling Carl Bernstein. He suggests that Woodward's unusual access to government secrets has roots in contacts from Yale and his work at the Pentagon, speculating that Woodward also had links to the CIA. Attempting to reenact a crucial ritual from All the President's Men , a narrative he considers embellished, Havill declares that Woodward could not signal ``Deep Throat'' by pulling a flowerpot to the rear of his apartment balcony because the balcony overlooked a courtyard that was virtually inaccessible to a lurker. And such a person most likely would be detected since 80 apartments overlooked the courtyard. He tags The Brethren , the Supreme Court expose by Woodward and Scott Armstrong, as a vendetta by their source, Justice Potter Stewart, against Chief Justice Warren Burger, and argues that in Veil Woodward fabricated his account of his deathbed interview with CIA chief William Casey. Bernstein's disjointed memoir Loyalties , the author suggests, has not redeemed his checkered career. Havill's charges merit response from Woodward and Bernstein. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Aug.)