The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America (Hardcover)

by Eric Alterman (Author), Mark J. Green (Author) "When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000 he was presented to the nation by his campaign handlers and a sympathetic media as a..." (more)
Key Phrases: bungling bully, state court lawsuits, third presidential debate, United States, White House, Saddam Hussein (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
While other liberal-minded books, written by everyone from documentary filmmakers to political strategists to comedians, have been broadly critical of the entire early 21st-century conservative universe, Eric Alterman and Mark J. Green have narrowed their focus to the man living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And unlike some of their contemporaries, they choose to largely eschew the clever metaphors and whimsical storytelling to get right at their pointed criticisms of George W. Bush, whom they accuse of being less than honest with the American people while serving the interests of large corporations, the religious right, and neoconservative ideologues. Such charges, by themselves, are so commonplace by this point as to be unremarkable but Alterman and Green provide voluminous, detailed research and come at the case with the vigor of prosecuting attorneys certain of a defendant's guilt or maybe a pair of exceptionally ambitious graduate students ready to present a final dissertation. They contrast sections of Bush's public statements, especially campaign rhetoric, that seem to strike a centrist, conciliatory tone with evidence of his actions that veer hard right and contradict the very things he had said. Some of Bush's words come off more as simple talking points on complex issues than outright deception, and the authors do stop short of calling Bush a liar, but even in these situations, the president still comes off as either out of touch or disingenuous. And though some of their supporting material comes from opinion pieces in publications like the New Republic, serving more to echo the authors' perspective than document it, there's plenty more from objective sources and raw factual data. Liberals will find plenty in The Book on Bush to arm them in arguments against conservatives and they'll have the evidence to make their case. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly
Examining the Bush administration's record on domestic and foreign policy issues, Alterman (What Liberal Media?) and former New York City public advocate Green see a pattern of dissimulation to promote the interests of the religious right, big business and neoconservative radicals. The two progressive champions make no effort to hide their dislike of Bush, branding him an "affirmative-action-legacy student" lacking knowledge and brain power. But the weight of their evidence and their reasonable tone make it difficult to dismiss them as ideologues. Though David Corn recently covered this territory in The Lies of George W. Bush, Alterman and Green provide more up-to-the-minute information on several issues, including the Environmental Protection Agency's withholding of information about potential health risks to residents of lower Manhattan after 9/11. They also document a disregard for truth displayed by other administration officials and by Bush's federal judicial appointees. From this voluminous record emerges a portrait of Bush as an ideological bully who knows how to "fake left and drive to the right," passing himself off as a populist while launching initiatives that benefit only his hardcore supporters. Expect liberal cognoscenti to back this book in droves as the election campaigns heat up.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (February 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670032735
• ISBN-13: 978-1413256260
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #210,533 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 149 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Depressing, but important, March 19, 2004

By	Aaron Headly "middle-aged curmudgeon" (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Book on Bush

"The Book on Bush" is a tough read, in more ways than one. Style-wise, it isn't as entertaining as "What Liberal Media," the book that turned me on to Eric Alterman, but I don't think that this book was written in an effort to draw people to the arguments it contains (which, I believe, "W.L.M?" was); I figure that Alterman and Green wrote it more as a political science report, and with (probably, liberal) policy junkies as an intended audience. The other way in which it is hard to read is that it is depressing.

That said, I think more people should read it. Particularly right-wing policy junkies.

It seems to go through all of the Bush policies that I can remember and details, a, what Bush claimed for each initiative, b, what Bush did to get the initiative enacted, c, what each initiative actually caused to be, and, d, how the Administration actually supported each initiative once enacted.

Like I said, pretty depressing (even for old-school conservatives, probably; the neo-cons never ran so wild when the old-school conservatives were in charge as they do now).

My guess is that a lot of people who reflexively support Bush will gripe about this book. Another guess of mine is that a lot of people who support Bush don't actually follow the policies of his administration that closely, and will assume that this book is written by Bush haters that will make stuff up to defend an ideological position. I understand that; most of the (monolithic?) right's most successful writers do that so often that, to them, it seems fair to assume that the left does the same thing.

As it happens, the (better) books (like this one) that come from the left are actually researched and (credibly) foot-noted. Which is to say, "Bush Lovers, read this at your own peril (and weep)."

The main thing I got from this book is the confidence to ask people who still support Bush as President the question "Why?" Whichever policy stance they claim as a reason to still like the guy, I'll be able to say "but don't you know, he actually told the Congress 'x' and then did 'y?'"

If you need thoughtful ammunition of this sort, buy this book; if you need a 'cheer me up, I'm depressed about where the country is currently going,' sort of book, you might skip this and re-read some Elmore Leonard (which won't help, either, but won't make your blues worse).

100 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doing Machiavelli proud, June 8, 2004

By	Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Of the spate of Bush-bashing books that have recently come out, this is clearly the best. Eric Alterman, who wrote the incisive What Liberal Media? The Truth about Bias and the News, and Mark Green, who has penned a number of other books on culture, economics, and politics, rise above the others through sheer thoroughness and a convincing literary style that transcends the merely journalistic.

Alterman and Green begin with an introduction entitled, "The Power of Audacity," which I think sums up the Bush strategy only too well. When Bush was faced with the prospect of lukewarm support for his longing to invade Iraq, he simply came up with the Big Lie. Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction that he is planning to use against the United States, and he is in cahoots with Al Qaeda in planning further terrorist attacks. It has been said that if you're going to tell a lie you might as well tell a big one. Bush may even be aware of this quote from the author of Mein Kampf: "The great masses of people...will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one."

The authors go on to show where George W. learned his audacity. From the Harken Energy insider trading that he got away with, to his irresponsible governorship of Texas, to his cozy relationship with Ken Lay at Enron (which he later denied), to his campaign prevarications about never using the US military for nation building or the No Child Left Behind rhetoric that he failed to support with adequate funding, etc., etc., we are treated to a kind of true crime thriller in which the bad guy is a sort of hail fellow well met (on the wagon of course), a good ole boy who steals from the poor and gives to the rich.

Alterman and Green have chapters on Bush's "Deja Vu-doo Economics," highlighting his anti-environmental energy policies while he thumbs his nose at pollution control and the development of renewable energy sources. There is information on what the authors call Bush's "large portfolio of antiscience policies." (p. 147) Indeed, as I write this, scores of senators and congressmen are petitioning the president to allow increased stem cell research in an effort to fight Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other scourges of humankind. But Bush continues to play a kind of reincarnation of the ignorant William Jennings Bryan who thought he had defeated "the infidels of evolution at the Scopes Trail of 1925." Also highlighted is the fact that, although the scientific evidence is overwhelming as glaciers melt around the world, Bush continues to deny that the case for global warming has been made and has called for more studies, effectively ignoring the problem.

The authors however don't think that George W. is quite as dumb and self-deceptive as many others believe. They write "we think him dumb like a fox." Nonetheless they charge that "George W. Bush entered office with less understanding of American history and the world than probably any twentieth-century predecessor." Add that to Bush's appalling lack of scientific knowledge and his dismal ignorance about other peoples and other cultures, and we have one of the most ignorant men ever to occupy the White House. Perhaps the double-edged nature of the real George W. Bush can be summed up with these ironic words from neocon strategist Richard Perle, "The first time I met Bush 43, I knew he was different...One, he didn't know very much. The other was that he had the confidence to ask questions that revealed he didn't know very much." (p. 3)

All these stupidities and prevarications are explored in full, and more, leaving us to wonder how we got into this mess in the first place. Blame the Supreme Court (and by extension, the previous presidents, especially Reagan and Bush 41 who appointed those justices)? Or blame the media for being too cowardly to expose Bush's lies on the campaign trail? Or blame a semi-educated electorate? Personally I blame the nature of the electoral process in which TV and other advertising can swing an election toward the candidate with the most money.

And what about the consequences of having this guy in office? The really terrible thing about George W. Bush is that he has so often taken the position that truth in politics is the way to go, that he would bring honesty and integrity to a White House soiled by the presence of a philanderer; yet the truth is that the one shameful lie that Clinton told caused no one to die, while the lies of George W. Bush have (at last count) caused over 800 American soldiers to die in Iraq, with thousands injured, to say nothing of tens of thousands of Iraqi dead. And for what? To provide Al Qaeda with a $200-billion recruiting poster?

In other words, not only has George W. Bush mislead the American people, he has caused grievous harm in the process. The massive treasury giveaway to his corporate buddies is something we and our children will pay for again and again over the next couple of decades. The loss of international prestige we suffer because of his misuse of American power and his disregard for the welfare of others is something we will all have to live with for years to come.

It is too bad that the startling information in this book will reach only a very small percentage of the electorate. One hopes, however, that enough of it will trickle down so that the most mendacious president in our history--perhaps even topping Richard Milhouse Nixon in premeditated lies--will be shown the door come November, 2004.

Another good read in a similar vein is The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (2003) by David Corn.

162 of 183 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great public service, February 12, 2004

By	Jonathan Rees (Pueblo, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Alterman and Green have put all the reasons to vote President Bush out of office in one place. A lot of it you probably know, but even though I thought I kept up on politics, the authors continually surprised me with outrages that had flown below the radar of both the mainstream and alternative media.

Honestly, it can be a little overwhelming and depressing to read in such great detail what the Bush administration has done to this country. Alterman and Green don't write as well as Molly Ivins (who does?) and they aren't funny like Al Franken. Nevertheless, the research that has gone into this is exhaustive. It really is THE book on Bush. Every voter ought to read it.