Untitled On Bush Cheney White House (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
A neutral, even-toned history of the George W. Bush administration, which I expect most people I discuss books with would find infuriating -- especially since it's framed to some extent around Vice-President Cheney, to whom the author had much more access than to Bush. I mostly picked it up because I was in an airport and it was the longest/cheapest plausible book so I went in without high expectations despite knowing it had had some very positive reviews; it turned out to be more than adequate for the purpose of plane-ride time-killer. That said, it's probably a bad sign when the most striking/memorable thing to me was the author's use of the word "aggravate" to mean "irritate": I know people use it in that sense, and I don't particularly mind when they do, but I also know that usage is controversial. So when it cropped up every few pages, I started getting distracted by it -- and then it continued for the rest of the 700-odd pages. Sometimes it even appeared multiple times on one page. This is, so far as I'm aware, the definitive history of George W Bush's two terms - the author had access to Bush, Cheney, and a number of disgruntled staffers, which produces as inside a look as possible. Combined with the author's fairness is a book that's quite gripping despite its intimidating size (Amazon says 816 pages, but that includes copious end notes). In fact, I could have easily read more; so much happened during these eight years that I could easily see the book being another 50% longer.What I really appreciated in the book is that it makes Dubya into a real person; I'll freely admit that after eight years of his administration I had unconsciously started thinking of him as a political cartoon midget with a huge cowboy hat. It's nice to see the moments that make him a relateable human being, even if I still think he was a terrible president. (On that note, the author and I seem to agree that Bush's presidency was defined by lost opportunities more than anything else; I thought the author went a little too far in the afterword defending Bush's presidency, but it's the kind of difference of opinion where I understand and respect the argument, but don't agree with it myself.)If you have even the slightest interest in politics, this is an easy recommend. I'm certainly no Bush fan, but the only time I wanted to put this book down is when holding all 800 pages of it up made my arm tired.
What do You think about Untitled On Bush Cheney White House (2013)?
This was an excellent story about the tumultuous times of Bush and Cheney. A great read.
—cookiegirl
Good story, well told. Hate the people involved...
—superaceman22
fascinating view into an administration
—Liubimica
