In His Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush [Hardcover]

Stanley A. Renshon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1403965463 | ISBN-13: 978-1403965462 | Publication Date: August 12, 2004 | Edition: First Edition

From a pampered son who showed little promise, to his rise to the presidency, George W. Bush has transformed himself through acts of will and faith. Stanley Renshon examines the psychological transformation of Bush and identifies those pivotal changes that allowed him to achieve success in his personal life and in the political arena, and shows how Bush's personal transformation has come to shape his political policies. The man who battled--and defeated--his own inner demons has become a president determined to battle the demons of terrorism and extremism that prevent democracy from flourishing around the world. This psychological portrait provides a much-needed antidote to prevailing critiques that ridicule Bush's values and policies, as it celebrates his resolve and strong leadership.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

How did a "mischievous imp" whose early life was characterized by academic mediocrity, professional failure and after-hours carousing ultimately become a confident politician and an era-defining President? In this book, a muddled combination of psychoanalysis and political punditry, Renshon (High Hopes: The Clinton Presidency and the Politics of Ambition) seeks to answer that question, and to prove that Bush’s presidency is driven by a desire to dramatically change the country in ways that directly mirror his own personal transformations. The book is at its best in its early sections, in which Renshon traces Bush’s difficulties in becoming a mature and successful person within the context of his powerful family. According to Renshon, decades spent as a "black sheep" allowed Bush to develop the ability to "stand apart from others" and the capacity to embrace conflict rather than avoid it. In this segment, the book offers a balanced and nuanced portrait of a late bloomer, a very capable man who nonetheless has been unable to transcend some of the "quirky elements of his psychology." However, the sections of the book that deal with Bush’s political agenda are much more partisan. Renshon spends a great deal of the volume trying to refute criticisms of the President and, at one point, groups all the many policies opposed to Bush’s domestic agenda under the single label "interest-group liberalism." There’s even a section of "National Security Questions for Critics." Renshon himself appears to find no fault with Bush’s leadership, and he looks forward to a hypothetical future in which Bush will be seen "historically, and appropriately, as a president of the first rank." Readers who agree with him will no doubt give this book five stars, but those who don’t may wish that he’d stuck to questions of the couch.
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Review

"Mr. Renshon has developed a reputation for delving behind the headlines and hysteria of presidential politics to offer insights into the psyche of our leaders. His provocative analysis of George W. Bush and his controversial style of governing reveals a president shaped not only by wealth and privilege but also by his complicated relationship with his father."--Mike Stanton, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and best-selling author of The Prince of Providence: The Rise and Fall of Buddy Cianci, America's Most Notorious Mayor

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (August 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403965463
• ISBN-13: 978-1403965462
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,617,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stanley Renshon is professor of political science and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Program in the Psychology of Social and Political behavior at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is also a certified psychoanalyst.

He is the author of over 90 professional articles and 15 books including his psychological biography of the Clinton presidency--High Hopes: The Clinton Presidency and the Politics of Ambition, won the 1997 American Political Science Association's Richard E. Neustadt Award for the best book published on the presidency and the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis' Gradiva Award for the best published work in the category of biography. His psychological analysis of George W. Bush and his presidency entitled, In his Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush was published by Palgrave/St. Martins press in the fall of 2004.

He has served as a consultant to the government on matters of national security including issues of immigration and national attachment and leadership assessment and decision-making.

He has been interviewed and quoted in a large number of newspapers for stories dealing with the presidency, public psychology, leadership, and immigration [including: The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and others]. He has appeared a number of times on CNN, CBS, Fox News, NBC, and has also frequently been a guest on public affairs news radio programs nationally (NPR, CBS news, Newsweek- week in review) and internationally (Voice of America, Australian National Radio, Canadian National Radio and the BBC).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No tiresome spin, August 23, 2004

By 

Abigail Thernstrom - See all my reviews

This review is from: In His Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush (Hardcover)

GWB is a remarkably polarizing president, and the storm of emotion that surrounds him makes getting a handle on the man and his presidency extremely difficult. And yet, the context of war makes understanding what makes him tick particularly urgent. Renshon's book arrives at just the right time. And his careful, thoughtful analysis should be fascinating reading even to political junkies who thing they know this president well.

Renshon explores the story of what it was like to grow up as a Bush, of his struggle to make something of himself, and of his conquest over an addiction to alcohol. Most interesting, however, is Renshon's description of the president as an agent of transformational change dealing with the question of national survival in a deeply divided society. To an unexpected and startling degree, Bush has been willing to risk his political future by going against the grain of much of the public, liberal and conservative alike. There will be lots of books on Bush written by talking heads who mistake political warfare for careful analysis. Renshon's book, however, should stand the test of time as a work of scholarship and integrity.

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced, August 23, 2004

By 

D. Rosen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In His Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush (Hardcover)

Reading this book, I didn't start out liking Bush very much, but
afterwards I had learned a lot that was new and sort of interesting about him. After reading this book, you may not end up voting for Bush, but you probably will see that there is a lot more to the man than his critics say.  The author has clearly reached some conclusions about the man, but lays out the evidence on both sides of the issues carefully. I thought both sides got a fair hearing and that the author let the reader make his or her own judgments, and that overall the book was surprisingly balanced.

12 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Total nonsense, October 6, 2004

By 

Newsman78 "newsman78" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In His Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush (Hardcover)

I have taken a course with Renshon, and read portions of his writings on this subject before the book was published. It's not so much that I'm opposed to his partisan perspective -- he's entitled to that if he wants it.

The real problem is his complete disregard for any standard of social science research methodology. He has given up on trying to explain what happens in reality, and instead focuses on the alleged psychological issues of Bush as they relate to his father (presumably all emanating from some sort of ultimate Oedipal complex).

His research relies almost entirely on media reports and Bob Woodward's 2 journalistic accounts of Bush. Renshon attempts to put Bush on the couch from afar, and utterly fails.