Customer Reviews

Barbara Bush: Matriarch of a Dynasty

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I call it Clementine Churchill (or if you prefer, Denis Thatcher) Syndrome: spouses of the great and powerful frequently haven't had lives as newsworthy as that of their more famous partner. And as Barbara Bush herself has noted, it's "fate and an extraordinary husband" (p. 141) that have made her part of history. However, Barbara Bush has always been a popular individual -- sometimes much more so than her husband. And for casual fans looking for an inoffensive and readable popular biography, this work by Pamela Killian more than fits the bill.

On its own terms, it does have its weak points. How much weight you choose to give them depends on what exactly you're looking for, I suppose. For example, there's no evidence Mrs. Bush herself was interviewed for this book -- although according to the acknowledgements some current and former staff-members and friends were. Many of the quotes, and much of the other information, are recycled from newspaper coverage and other media sources (including, interestingly, an episode of the A&E cable network's "Biography" program). Author Kilian also gives a disturbing amount of emphasis to those notoriously fickle (as well as politically tendentious) "polls of presidential historians."

There are also a couple of errors (arguably minor) that need to be pointed out, including a misquotation of Al Gore's famous "no controlling legal authority" phrase (p. 217) and an odd mention of the House of Representatives' "interference" with the election of 1824 (there was no "interference," just the process laid out in the Constitution).

Where I thought this biography particularly shined, though, was in the discussion of Barbara Bush's 1990 commencement address at Wellesley College (pp.146-53). Some feminists in the graduating class had objected to Mrs. Bush's presence, on the grounds that she had no individual achievements and was only being honored because of whom she was married to. Mrs. Bush handled that issue well at the time, and Kilian does the same here. I found this chapter, in many ways, the defining point of the book, giving testimony (if any were needed) to the value of the life Barbara Bush has led.

While not terribly in depth or deeply psychologically revealing, this biography does give a good picture of a woman who, in my opinion, justifies the high regard in which she is still held by so many people. Think what you will about her husband's and/or son's politics, it's harder not to like the Silver Fox, as this title helps make clear.

I read this book and I was just left wondering where the new material was. This book just goes over some general things that everyone knows. We need something a little meatier. Barbara can really be a great leader when she wants to. I just wish she didn't leave these books up to other people such as biographers and ghost writers.

This is not the book you think you're buying. I thought I was buying "Barbara Bush: A Memoir" by Barbara Bush, which has the exact same cover. But this one is a biography in the third person by someone named Pamela Kilian. Unfortunately I figured this out only after I had paid for the book. This is a real bait and switch. Don't fall for it like I did!

Having read many articles and several books, there was nothing new in this book for the general reader. Lacked substance also.