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Random House
January 2008
On Sale: January 15, 2008
304 pages ISBN: 1400066786 EAN: 9781400066780 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
This is the book that cracks the code of the Bush
presidency. Unstintingly yet compassionately, and with no
political ax to grind, Slate editor in chief Jacob Weisberg
methodically and objectively examines the family and circle
of advisers who played crucial parts in George W. Bush's
historic downfall. In this revealing and defining portrait, Weisberg uncovers
the "black box" from the crash of the Bush presidency. Using
in-depth research, revealing analysis, and keen
psychological acuity, Weisberg explores the whole Bush
story. Distilling all that has been previously written about
Bush into a defining portrait, he illuminates the fateful
choices and key decisions that led George W., and thereby
the country, into its current predicament. Weisberg gives
the tragedy a historical and literary frame, comparing Bush
not just to previous American leaders, but also to
Shakespeare's Prince Hal, who rises from ne'er-do-well youth
to become the warrior king Henry V. Here is the bitter and fascinating truth of the early years
of the Bush dynasty, with never-before-revealed information
about the conflict between the two patriarchs on George W.'s
father's side of the family--the one an upright pillar of the
community, the other a rowdy playboy--and how that schism
would later shape and twist the younger George Bush; his
father, a hero of war, business, and Republican politics
whose accomplishments George W. would attempt to copy and
whose absences he would resent; his mother, Barbara, who
suffered from insecurity, depression, and deep
dissatisfaction with her role as housewife; and his younger
brother Jeb, seen by his parents as steadier, stronger, and
the son most likely to succeed. Weisberg also anatomizes the replacement family Bush
surrounded himself with in Washington, a group he thought
could help him correct the mistakes he felt had destroyed
his father's presidency: Karl Rove, who led Bush astray by
pursuing his own historical ambitions and transforming the
president into a deeply polarizing figure; Dick Cheney,
whose obsessive quest to restore presidential power and
protect the country after 9/11 caused Bush and America to
lose the world's respect; and, finally, Donald Rumsfeld and
Condoleezza Rice, who encouraged Bush's foreign policy
illusions and abetted his flight from reality. Delving as no other biography has into Bush's religious
beliefs--which are presented as at once opportunistic and
sincere--The Bush Tragedy is an essential work that is sure
to become a standard reference for any future assessment. It
is the most balanced and compelling account of a sitting
president ever written.
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