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Title: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips ISBN: 0-670-03264-6 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.42 (115 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Make Up Your Own Mind
Comment: I too first saw Kevin Phillips on C-Span discussing this book. Phillips is a lawyer and former aide to the Nixon White House, and is hardly a liberal flame-thrower. I was impressed by his level-headedness in reviewing, with a tinge of disappointment and anger, the history of the Bush family and its many years of backroom dealings with Saudia Arabia, the oil industry, and, incredibly, the Bin Laden family. (Don't forget, in the days immediately following 9-11, the ONLY commercial flights that were allowed to take off in the US were the planes carrying members of the Bin Laden family out of the country.)
This is not a shrill, one-note, Bush-bashing book, and Phillips does not appear to have an agenda or axe to grind. Accordingly, he comes across as exceedingly fair and objective. His history goes back several generations, is detailed and fully supported, and reveals the Bush family's long-standing ability to insinuate itself with, and do the bidding of, the monied class. As others, including Phillips himself, have mentioned, these are not new revelations - it is all public and available information. What seems to particularly gall Phillips is the mainstream media's laziness and lack of interest in pursuing any aspect of this tale.
Neither Al Frankin nor Ann Coulter, Phillips is to be commended for this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Sad but true
Comment: While we're on the subject of "objective writing" vs "liberal screeds," intellectually-curious people would also enjoy "Rogue Nation?" by Clyde Prestowitz. This author was an economic advisor for the Reagan administration and currently involved in world economic policy. Despite the provocative title, Prestowitz' book is well thought out, well researched and written unemotionally. The substance of his arguments (to paraphrase an earlier reviewer of this Philips book) are also little different from those of Michael Moore et al. Perhaps those who are quick to discredit these works should consider that there might be some factual basis to them. Prestowitz, by the way, is advising Howard Dean.
Credit is due to the few real conservatives (Prestowitz, Phillips, David Brock) have awakened to realize that the current cadre of "conservative Republicans" are the true radicals. I long for the day when the word "reform" again has a positive meaning. Too often now, the word is a smoke screen for yet another destructive radical-right initiative that's bad for our country and its people.
Geez, even John Le Carre, ever one to avoid politics in his novels, can no longer remain silent about the madness that has hijacked the United States and an activist minority of its people! To those who hope that people will wake up to the disparity between the Bush class and the mainstream of our country; the Phillips book deserves reading.
There is a pattern to these Amazon reader reviews - some say this book is inspired & insightful; others say it is trash. To those who would say that it's "liberal conspiratory trash," has it occurred to you that perhaps there is some truth to the reporting? Unfortunately, the information sources that so many "conservatives" consider to be authoritative are opinion-based and not fact-based. Yet they are positioned as fact and that's enough for many people. It is sad.
Rating: 5
Summary: Connects the dots
Comment: No matter what one's political stripe may be, this book should be read and discussed by all Americans during this election year of 2004. Author Phillips has looked at 20th century American history through the eyes and actions of the Bush clan. And it is, at times, a scary sight. Phillips examines George H. W. Bush's influence upon four primary topics: the CIA, the energy sector (primarily oil), national security, and foreign relations. His son, George W., has introduced a new imprint upon these topics with his heavy involvement with -- and on-going courting of -- the religious right. Many of these sectors come together in a dangerous and toxic mixture in the battlefields of Iraq. Phillips forces the question: Is this the type of leadership our country wants? Do we want a leader who -- through on-going generational involvement -- is beholden to the agendas of various groups such as: the fundamentalists, the oil producers, the richest one percent of our nation, the Saudis, or the CIA? I suspect that Phillips, a Republican consultant, would say no.
Despite having read several books on 20th century history, as well as several biographies on leaders of that century, this book was a true learning experience for me. It has, in a certain way, altered the way that I look at the world. A higher compliment I would be unable to give to a writer.
My one minor complaint about the book is that a bibliography section at the back would have been very helpful to the reader. Phillips includes good documentation on his footnotes, but an overall topic bibliography would have been even more helpful.
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Title: The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill by Ron Suskind ISBN: 0743255453 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 13 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken ISBN: 0525947647 Publisher: E P Dutton Pub. Date: 29 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush's America by Lou Dubose, Molly Ivins ISBN: 0375507523 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman ISBN: 0393058506 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth by Joe Conason ISBN: 0312315600 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 25 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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