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Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years by [Russ Baker]

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Russ Baker

Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years Kindle Edition

by Russ Baker (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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"Shocking in its disclosures, elegantly crafted, and faultlessly measured in its judgments."-Roger Morris, author of Richard Milhous Nixon and Partners in Power

How did the deeply flawed George W. Bush ascend to the highest office in the nation, what forces abetted his rise, and-perhaps most important-were those forces really vanquished by Obama's election? Award-winning investigative journalist Russ Baker gives us the answers in Family of Secrets, a compelling and startling new take on the Bush dynasty and the shadowy elite that has quietly steered the American republic for the past half century and more. Baker shows how this
network of figures in intelligence, the military, oil, and finance enabled-and in turn benefited handsomely from-the Bushes' perch at the highest levels of government. As Baker reveals, this deeply entrenched elite remains in power regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. Family of Secrets offers countless disclosures that challenge the conventional accounts of such central events as the JFK assassination and Watergate. It includes an inside account of George W.'s cynical religious conversion and the untold real background to the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina. Baker's narrative is gripping, sobering, and deeply sourced. It will change the way we understand not just the Bush years, but a half century of postwar history-and the present.

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593 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bloomsbury Press
Publication date

May 1, 2010
File size

2494 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Family of Secrets:

“One of the most important books of the past ten years.”—Gore Vidal

“A tour de force … Family of Secrets has made me rethink even those events I witnessed with my own eyes.”—Dan Rather

“Shocking in its disclosures, elegantly crafted, and faultlessly measured in its judgments, Family of Secrets is nothing less than a first historic portrait in full of the Bush dynasty and the era it shaped. From revelation to revelation, insight to insight—from the Kennedy assassination to Watergate to the oil and financial intrigues that lie behind today's headlines—this is a sweeping drama of money and power, unseen forces, and the emblematic triumph of a lineage that sowed national tragedy. Russ Baker’s Family of Secrets is sure to take its place as one of the most startling and influential works of American history and journalism.”—Roger Morris, former senior staff member, National Security Council, and author of Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician and Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America

“Left-wing paranoia? Baker, a solid investigative journalist, works hard to back up his claims – a reader could choke on the complex, interwoven details in Family of Secrets. He's a man on a mission, desperate to stop the “methods of stealth and manipulation that ... reflect a deeper ill: the American public's increasingly tenuous hold upon the levers of its own democracy.”—San Diego Union-Tribune

“Prodigiously industrious investigative journalist Russ Baker…. connects the dots between the Bushes and Watergate.” —Lev Grossman, Time Magazine

Praise for Russ Baker:

“In an era dominated by corporate journalism and an ideological right-wing media, Russ Baker’s work stands out for its fierce independence, fact-based reporting, and concern for what matters most to our democracy…A lot of us look to Russ to tell us what we didn’t know.” —Bill Moyers, author and host, Bill Moyers’ Journal (PBS)

“Russ Baker has the three most important attributes of any great investigative reporter: He is skeptical, he is fearless, and he is indefatigable. Whenever he examines anything—including the most allegedly wellcovered topics—he breaks important new ground.” —David Margolick, author and contributing editor, Vanity Fair

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Russ Baker is an award-winning investigative journalist who has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Nation, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Village Voice, and Esquire, and has served as a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. He is the founder of www.whowhatwhy.com, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news Web site. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Jamie Malanowski Halfway through the concluding chapter of Family of Secrets, Russ Baker mentions, not entirely modestly, that when a colleague heard some of the things he would be disclosing in his almost 600-page book about the Bush family and its connections to John F. Kennedy's assassination, Watergate and many other pivotal events, the colleague "suggested, only half in jest, that the book be called 'Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong.' " Well, any investigative journalist whose credo isn't "Everything You Thought Is Wrong" should probably pack it in. No quality, not even doggedness, is more important than the ability to embrace the belief that, despite what everyone else thinks, only the reporter really knows the truth. But with this big challenge comes a big burden of proof. As history's tide rolls out, we may eventually discover that everything we think we know about the George Bushes, père et fils, is wrong and that everything Baker alleges about them in his book -- their secrets, their labors on behalf of powerful, self-serving interests -- is right on the money. Despite strenuous efforts, however, Baker doesn't prove it here. A softer sell would have served him better. A capable investigator who has written for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, Baker is skillful at taking bits of information and placing them in contexts that make the Bush family's behavior and decisions look unusual and, frequently, nefarious. Had he been satisfied to raise suspicions, he would have been provocative and, on some counts, persuasive. But by trying to explain everything, to create a unified field theory of American tragedy that has the Bushes as the key actors and beneficiaries, Baker exceeds his grasp. Take, for example, the many details Baker has collected about George H.W. Bush and his activities in Texas in the 1950s and early '60s. Baker's cornerstone is a memo, reported by the Nation magazine in 1988, in which J. Edgar Hoover says the FBI spoke to "Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency" after John F. Kennedy's assassination. To that Baker adds suggestive pieces of information about the Bush family-Yale-Skull & Bones-CIA-oil industry nexus. All this, taken together, advances the possibility that the elder Bush was at least a minor asset to the CIA, and maybe more, when he was doing business in Latin America and the Caribbean early in the Cold War. As everyone knows, Bush became the CIA's director in 1976. But Family of Secrets posits that his connections to the agency go back much earlier. Baker then scrutinizes the elder Bush's movements on Nov. 22, 1963. On the morning of the assassination, he was in Dallas, then flew to Tyler, Tex., to speak at a luncheon (the speech was cancelled when the shooting was reported; Baker notes that Bush remained "supremely well composed''), then flew back to Dallas and on to Houston, but not before phoning the FBI from Tyler to report his suspicions that a Republican Party activist might have been involved in the killing. Add in a handful of Bush associates who had interesting (and in one case downright bizarre) connections to the event, the author's general distrust of right-wing oilmen, an argument that the CIA had its own reasons for hating Kennedy, and suddenly you have a scenario that starts to sound like a conspiracy. Baker never explains how Bush might have been involved in the assassination; he only suggests that having apparently developed ties to the CIA and having had these weird friends and having done this odd informer thing -- possibly to establish an alibi -- well, he must be up to his neck in something. And who knows? But the Nation asked George H.W. Bush in 1988 if he were the person Hoover was referring to, and a spokesman for the then-vice president said no. The CIA produced another George Bush who had been on its staff at the time of the assassination, although that guy also denied having dealt with the FBI. Baker suggests that this was some kind of cover story to protect Bush 41, but what kind of cover story is it when the coverer doesn't stick to the story? The point is, Baker is not content merely to raise uncomfortable questions; he has latched onto the Grand Theory of Bushativity, and he insists on pressing his case with evidence that will not bear the weight. Every time he reaches a gap in someone's means or motivation, he hops, skips and jumps across it as nimbly as a mountain goat. Such words as "appears,'' "apparently,'' "likely,'' "seems,'' "seemingly'' and "in all likelihood" appear at many crucial junctures; there are more crutches in these pages than in the grotto at Lourdes. Baker also hurts himself by consistently thinking the worst of his subjects, even on matters only tangentially related to his central argument. He makes a big deal, for example, out of inconsistencies in the elder Bush's accounts of being shot down during World War II. Smith suggests that Bush changed his story to seem more courageous and to diminish his responsibility for the lives of his crew. Never mind studies that point to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, and set aside all we know about how the passing of time messes with memory. Just think: Bush was flying an airplane and trying to bomb a target while people were trying to kill him, and they very nearly succeeded. I've never been in that position, so I can't say how well I would have recollected events. I can say I have gone into a supermarket with two small children and come out having forgotten to buy the very item I went to the store to get. Baker's Javert-like pursuit makes him seem unreasonable. This is just one of many places where the author overplays his hand. In a particularly weak section, he argues that Bush was complicit in a plot to undermine Richard Nixon. Here Baker relies on revisionist accounts of Watergate that point to John Dean as the one who ordered the break-in, or to the CIA as conspiring to oust Nixon. Bush is linked to these fuzzy schemes primarily by having, like the Watergate burglars, a CIA connection. In addition, Baker finds it suspicious that Bush advised Nixon to come clean about the break-in. But such advice was highly conventional and could be considered anti-Nixon only if you buy the idea that Bush prodded an innocent president to admit to something that didn't involve him. Baker doesn't convincingly cast Bush as anything beyond a sycophantic, Zelig-like presence in the Nixon years. The later chapters of the book, about George W. Bush, are more plausible, if only because Baker breaks less ground in his coverage of the family's connections to Saudi Arabia and the younger Bush's record in the National Guard. But having seen Baker stretch his evidence in the early chapters, a reader cannot be entirely sure that he isn't doing the same thing again. The next time this intrepid investigator takes aim at a subject, he might remember that it is wiser to underpromise and overdeliver than vice versa.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003NSBMNA
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 1, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2494 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 593 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #283,041 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #203 in Media Studies (Kindle Store)
- #243 in Biographies of US Presidents
- #441 in Federal Government

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Russ Baker

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Russ Baker is an awardwinning investigative journalist. He has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Nation, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Village Voice, and Esquire, and has served as a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. He is the founder of WhoWhatWhy/the Real News Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization, operating at www.whowhatwhy.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		74%
4 star		14%
3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Randall M.

If you want to understand what was really happening and how the American citizens have been betrayed and hoodwinked by the Bush's this is a great book.

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

From Samuel Bush late 19th century to Bush 43 the book reveals the double life of the Bush family. The connections and associations throughout a century leave little doubt that the Bush family is entwined in many of the most historical and tragic events of wars, politics and covert activities of the USA. If you want to understand what was really happening and how the American citizens have been betrayed and hoodwinked by the Bush's this is a great book.

50 people found this helpful

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David Bocek

The Author Exposes Bush Family Corruption Going Back Decades....

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

The Author does a great job with his research about said family. "The Bush Crime Family" by Roger Stone heavily cites this book. You may want to read both of them. From Prescott to GHW to GW to the current ones; the book analyzes their behavior with evidence. From what I have researched in the past the book is very accurate. No family in this nation should have this kind of power. I am a Republican, but the Bushes are Elitists. There is a difference. Anyone in the US that is against Monarchy & Oligarchy should read this book. There is also a lot of interesting evidence that proves GHW Bush's involvement in JFK's Murder. A must read for anyone that worships at the foot of their "altar."

18 people found this helpful

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Bibliophiledw

Don't Miss This One! Many skeletons in this Closet! Whew!

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

WOW! The closest I can come t o describing this is to say it is a multi-level, generational expose of "incestuous" relationships WITHOUT the sex! How can that be? Read it and learn. If I'd known how pervasive and of such longstanding and widespread these relationships.... I would've started with a 14' x 14' white board and diagrammed a kind of "family" tree and still would have had to write small! - really small. Someone said: "What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." This is like THE largest can of worms; it was hard to keep track, but Russ Baker did and showed how each player was connected to the next - sometimes it was linear and other times it went sideways, but always came back to the beginning family of Bush. Oh my.

47 people found this helpful

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Janet Blakley

A very LONG read. Lets you know that what ...

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2016

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A very LONG read. Lets you know that what you knew and suspected about the Bushes is all true. Corrupt beyond words. From Grandpa right on down to W. So little respect or knowledge of the average American. They weren't interested in knowing any typical American. If you don't have money or position they want nothing to do with you. War was the answer to them and their friends making millions off the American people. Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rove looked down on the American way of life. Shame on them and us. We never took the time to really vet these guys. My apologies to Dan Rather. He got shafted because CBS would not stand up to the Bushes.

31 people found this helpful

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Victor H. Tango

As a Former Bush fan, I'm glad I know the truth

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book will greatly assist you on your path to learn about the Bush Family.

Why learn about the Bush Family? Because they have been a part of EVERY strange government action since WWII. Starting with Prescott Bush's business dealings with the Nazi's, to George H. Bush's association with Lee Harvey Oswald, Saddam Hussein, and others.... all the way to George W. Bush's dealings with Osama Bin Laden long before he became a 'Terrorist'.

This family had a role in the assassination of JFK, 9/11, and other financial failures that are nothing less than sinister,

35 people found this helpful

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Rosie Walker

How the elites affect public policy and the course of history

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

The tangential names and places are fully explained in this book. The reality of elite dynasties (Bush, Rockefeller, Kennedy) is undeniable. These people affect our lives, often in ways only they know about. Connections are inherited, my friends. To get your feet wet, visit YouTube and watch one of the video interviews with author Russ Baker.

28 people found this helpful

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This is one of the most important, and dangerous books on the market today.

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is the book that should have the Bush family keeping their bags packed, and the tanks topped off on the getaway plane, because the infomation in this book links the Bush family, especially George H.W. (Poppy) Bush, who precipitated the writing of this book by insisting he can't remember where he was on the day of November 22, 1963.

If you want to get the real story about JFK's assassination, Bay Of Pigs, Watergate, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran/Contra, and every other dirty, criminal deal, this is the book to read. There's also well researched information about George W. Bush, and his going AWOL from the National Guard, as well as all of his dirty, criminal deals.

It doesn't matter where you stand on political issues of today. It doesn't even matter if you're American, or were even alive at the time of JFK's assassination. The information in this book should be of interest to anyone interested in American, or world politics, as well as anyone interested in the truth about what were once regarded as unsolvable criminal mysteries.

Russ Baker deserves an award for his hard work researching the information for this book, and making an important contribution to the legacy of American politics. This book should be what touches off a movement to have the Bush family, and all of their partners, and accessories arrested, an put in prison, where they belong.

28 people found this helpful

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Family of Secrets= Truth You Can Handle

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2015

Verified Purchase

Russ Baker has a clear bias, but the research is amazing. In spite of his bias, the facts are what they are—true. Personally, I hope the reader understands this is not about “Republicans” vs. “Democrats”. If you read this book and come away still thinking that there is a difference between the “Left” and the “Right”, then you’re not paying attention. The only reason I did not give it a full 5 stars is because of the difficulty I had in keeping up with all the players and details. One must remember that these people purposefully obfuscate their own lives for these very reasons—the “devil” is in the details. Baker is to be commended for his depth and level of research, and given the impossible task of making it easy for the masses, he does as well as anyone could expect. The reader must read this book with an open mind leaving any pre-conceived ideas behind. I would sure like to see Baker do an equal work on the Clintons—to include Obama, who for all practical purposes is a continuation of both Bush and Clinton. This next Presidential election/campaign should be interesting… looks like another Bush and another Clinton are going to be our “choices”.

15 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Natatores

Very detailed account of a political dynasty.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

If you were puzzled by how it was possible for GWB ever become POTUS then this is the book for you. A very interesting and in depth account (as far as is possible given the secrecy that surrounds them) of the Bush political dynasty. Fascinating and disturbing at the same time and delivers the knock out blow to the fallacy that the US was ever the 'land of the free and the home of the brave'. Democracy is an illusion in most of the developed world but you would have to be seriously deluded to believe that it was anything other than stillborn in the US in 1776. Hardly surprising that the Americans in their desperation have lurched from one Presidential disaster to another over the course of their history. It is a shame the book does not elaborate on the strangeness of the events surrounding 9/11 and also makes no mention of the rumours regarding the paternity of Barbara Bush nee Pierce but it is a true WTF moment when you hear the story and check out the resemblance.

2 people found this helpful

Mr. Andrew Crabtree

Surprised Russ Baker got writting this book without having an 'accident', so glad he did. 5star

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

As we enter a possible new chapter of 'Jeb' Bush....there's stuff we need to know about the Bush family, and this book is a cracking start. Very readable, but does flit quite a bit chronologically between 'Poppy' (dad) and junior (son), which can be a little distracting. Mr Baker has clearly done his homework on this project and interviewed a lot of people.

Very in-depth coverage of the build up to the JFK incident focusing more on the interlocking relationships of influential business and political leaders who had issue with JFK. A lot of new analysis with Junior's lack of time with the National Air Guard drilled into and his numerous positions on energy companies with CIA links . If I had one disappointment it would be the lack of coverage on the Crisis Management Team which was set up shortly before the assassination attempt of Reagan which neatly allowed Poppy Bush a back door to the job he had been after for so long, but than darn Reagan refused to die.

All in all, a very good job indeed. Happy to recommend this to anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of the power politics of those who wish (and do) rule us.

5 people found this helpful

Calverton Bent

As described

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

Very happy with purchase and condition.

oldtom

first class!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is one of the best books about the way we are being conned EVER. Well researched and put together, a must read for anyone who wants to know just how we are just slaves to this evil, how we are controlled and fed lies from our so called leaders ,wake up READ THIS BOOK!

9 people found this helpful

Tracey Robinson

Opened my eyes!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

Absolutely breathtaking! If you want to know more about post WW2 and our current political situation then, a must read.

One person found this helpful

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