Rating: 
Summary: A disaster
Review: A disaster!!!! Suskind unfortunately yields to the temptation of writing a story rather than reporting a story. One of the worst political books I have ever read and should be titled, "Why I am pissed off that I was fired". Unfortunately not only does ONeill come off as a bitter bitter man (it is amusing that Mr Principle spends 4 years working for a boss he has no respect for till he is fired!) but Suskind comes off as trying to sell books rather than report earnestly.
Rating: 
Summary: Among the Best
Review: This is probably the best writing I have seen on the Bush 2 administration. O'Neill is a republican after all, albeit not a neocon. His obsesrvations on the triumph of ideology, belief over fact, and having the answers rather than "negotiating with myself" as Bush refuses to do are insights that one rarely has at least until an administration is several years out of office. In my view, O'Neill has done a much greater service to the nation by providing the materials for this book to Suskind than his service in office.
Rating:
Summary: Read this before the next election
Review: This is an important book. What a gift to have the views of a straight shooter like O'Neil delivered in such a timely fashion. This is an indispensable document of the times in which we live. You can argue all you want about policy. I had no major problems with the first Bush administration or the Clinton administration. I'll cut a president from any party some slack if they are pursuing a thoughtful policy. But what Paul O'Neil describes in this book is extraordinary. And to Christine Todd Whitman I say "come home, New Jersey needs you again."
Rating: 
Summary: enlightening
Review: I must admit that I am only half way through the book, I have not finished it yet. Having said that I think that we have an example of a republican CEO(for a change) telling truth to power. It is obvious, if O'Neill is to believed that Bush and his co-horts are not interested in the facts they just want their subordinates to read from a script. O'Neill was brought in to be an actor, not a director. In any event, although this is not always an entertaining book, it is definitely informative.
Rating:
Summary: A mix of courage and truth
Review: I have read this book and I would like to applaud both Ron Suskind and Paul O'Neill for this effort. This book was the tipping point to finally shed some bright light on the truth of the Bush faux presidency. There is one thing that niggles however. O'Neill was able to amass sixty million dollars in wealth when our country had good governance and excellent relations with most countries in the world. He then got the remarkable and fine idea while on his trip to Africa with Bono to push for the Bush administration to support a project in Ghana to provide clean water to all citizens at a cost of only 25 million dollars. Of course Bush and his ideologue followers would not go along with that. But why doesn't O'Neill put up the 25 million himself? That is less than half his fortune. What is he going to do with all that money? His four children don't need that much to wreck their lives with entitlement and excess. Other than this my respect for Mr. O'Neill has been very much strengthened through reading his story.
Rating:
Summary: Philosophy and Power
Review: This book is a very interesting inside account of the second Bush Administration. However, it also holds a deeper interest as a contemporary illustration of the age-old tension between philosophy and power. The overall theme of the book is loyalty, specifically the difference between the narrowly political definition of loyalty as loyalty to persons and the philosophical definition of loyalty as loyalty to inquiry (pages 325-26). O'Neill distinguishes between ideology, which is based on non-thinking feelings, and philosophy, "which is always a work in progress, [and] is influenced by facts" (page 292). O'Neill is concerned about process--an honest evaluation of competing views with reference to evidence--as distinguished from preconceived opinions. The entire book is an elaboration of these themes. Although the subject is not new (the question of the relationship between philosophy and power was addressed in depth by such ancient philosophers as Plato and Confucius), this contemporary update is, to say the least, fascinating. One does not have to agree with every one of O'Neill's conclusions to appreciate his attempts to inject reason into an atmosphere in which reason was anathema to many of the influential players. One of the most surprising revelations in the book, based on O'Neill's experiences in previous administrations, is that President Nixon, for all his faults, was actually an analytical thinker, as was President Ford. When O'Neill attempted to initiate similar analytical processes into the administration of the second Bush, he found himself beating his head against a wall.
Rating:
Summary: Good read but cut Bush some slack
Review: Hey it's a decent book, not an out right Bush bash like I thought it would be. Good points are made; valid critisms are not over played. My problem is not with the book, but what people make it to be: an attack on Bush. Yeah after reading this book you will be left with the sense that Bush Jr. is not the brightest light in the sky. Hey so what, we knew that already. He's a decent guy, and we could be way worse off. If it wasn't for 9-11 he would have been a good President. He just got in over his head. Back off and let the man do his job. It's looking like he's not gonna get a second term, so give him some peace for the rest of it.
Rating:
Summary: Confirmed my suspicions...
Review: F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function". This book confirmed that Bush is unable to do this. Bush repeatedly says he refuses to "negotiate with himself" meaning there's just not enough room upstairs for more than one idea at a time. And as the book describes his discovery of the rest of the world after taking office it really must have been getting crowded up there. But what can you expect, he's a proud Texan. O'Neill, ultra-smart as he claims to be, wasn't able to deal with Bush, just like Gore. Having been the CEO of Alcoa O'Neill seemed pretty naïve. And so after my initial anger at Bush faded away I kind of felt sorry him. Why? The book clearly showed that he's in way over his head and is being manipulated by the neocons. It's sad that his legacy will be that of one of the most damaging presidents in our history. At times this book is dry and full of financial concepts not well explained. But it is a very relevant book for our times and should be read. After 9/11 people called Bush a hero, but as Fitzgerald also said, "Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy".
Rating:
Summary: A Very Scary Piece of Work on Many Levels
Review: A very good book. On one level it verifies what has been speculated by the press: that Cheney runs the government, that Bush is hard right, that Bush forced the Iraqi war, and that Bush is a bit of a klutz. But this is not to say Bush has not become more comfortable with the job as he grew into it. And at a different level, O'Neill comes off as a "do-gooder," hypocritical and someone who did not do his job (he tried to do other's jobs many times(Whitmans and Powells)). And O'Neill constantly bickers that there isn't an honest broker anywhere to be seen, but when it came to his and Greenspans discussing corporate governance they went in with a set plan and didn't ask for ideas. Much like he criticizes Bush the entire book. You have to treat this book as if O'Neil was an outsider: he was. At an entirely different level you can see the US Economy in a very wicked way - as a feudal system. But now the dukes are the CEOs and the King is forged from the dukes. (The Democrats are no better in my opinion. It all reeks of elitism). And we are all the serfs. We "think" we like the present system but that's only because they have our "buy in" from our retirement plans heavily invested in the market. Long live the King.
Rating: 
Summary: valuable insight with some subjective filtering
Review: The Price of Loyalty is valuable reading for anyone who wants a better understanding of how this current administration operates on the inside. As statecraft drifts further and further into the realm of stagecraft, one strains to imagine how many of our nation's policies are formed. It could even be said to be difficult to discern WHAT the actual policies are, given how the simplicity of the official line often runs contrary to its actual behavior. TPOL does as good a job as possible at showing us how decisions are made within the Bush administration, and how that tranlates into their presentation. This is invaluable to us all, as voting members of this republic. If there is any weakness with this work, it is that the author presents a fairly limited perspective of the events described, lionizing former secretary O'Neill in a way that suggests a slanted report. While this is probably an inevitable consequence of Mr. O'Neill's role as main contributor of the book's material, a more balanced portrayal of the man would have been welcome. This is not to say that I have any criticisms of my own towards this man, but that a credulous reader might take the book at face value without recognizing its limitations. That being said, if the text is anything but lies and statistics, I would probably find myself in agreement with Paul O'Neill on many matters, and share the author's admiration of his character. It is only because one of the most important themes is impartial analysis that the pro-O'Neill slant seems particularly inappropriate.
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