Rating: 
Summary: One of the most riveting books I've ever read
Review: I simply could not put this book down and read it in less than a day. The book was very well written in a concise and down-to-earth manner and I highly recommend it. Even the most complex policies and issues are very well broken down so everyone should be easily able to understand them. The details revealed by Ron Suskind on the inner workings of the Bush Administration came as a shock to me. What really surprised me is the extent to which policy is formulated and driven purely by partisan politics. I am an unaffiliated voter who is disenchanted with both major parties but this book really soured me on the GOP and their governance. They seem intent on not just governing but in ruling with no regard to any opposing viewpoints. I was very suspicious of O'Neil's motivation in making this book possible. But after reading the book I was impressed with its candor and how O'Neil did not just viciously attack the President and his administration. He did a fantastic job at expressing his frustration in not being able to enact Social Security and Tax Code reforms while giving an impartial view at how this Administration really governs. I came away from reading this book with a great admiration of Paul O'Neil even though I disagree with him on many political issues. His honesty is refreshing as O'Neill is no liberal, serving in 3 Republican administrations including Nixon's. George H. Bush respects him and he has a 30-year friendship with Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. I found it very ironic that recently Bush's Press Secretary said that no one listened to him while O'Neill was Secretary of the Treasury so why would the Administration listen to him now. This is after Vice-President Dick Cheney hand-picked him, and practically begged O'Neill to serve as the Treasury Secretary. The sections dealing with relationship between O'Neill and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made for the most interesting reading of the entire book, to me at least. The conversations revealed in this book between the two was some of the best reading of my life. These passages alone make buying this book a must for the average individual wishing to better their understanding of the interactions of the financial markets, government spending and how each often affects the other. This book should be required reading for every voter regardless of political affiliation as it sheds light on how Washington really operates. It seems to be very well researched and does not come across as a vitriolic attack against the GOP. It did confirm my distrust of this administration and left me very disappointed with "43", as the book often refers to the President, not only as a President but also as a person. We seem to have replaced an immoral, womanizing, liar in Clinton with an equally untrustworthy President, albeit with somewhat better moral character. Perhaps someday we will elect a President who will do what's in the best interests of the country and not acquiesce to political advisers and/or expediency. This book will not dissuade Bush's supporters from continuing to back the GOP but it will give independent and undecided voters such as myself a rude awakening in regards to Bush's leadership skills and ability. We have a President who is in over his head and reading this book will show who is actually serving as President. While some will say this book is nothing but sour grapes on O'Neill's part I didn't find that to be the case. The book repeatedly seemed to strive to try and portray the President, his Cabinet and staff in the best possible light. Once you start reading this book you'll find it impossible to put down until you're finished. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Long on characterization but a bit short on analysis
Review: I got this book immediately upon its release, eager to get the insider view on the Bush administration. I finished it last weekend and have mixed feelings. First, this book is somewhat of a wolf in sheep's clothing: the author's note makes it sound like this is going to be a hard-nosed, even-handed account of Paul O'Neill's time in the White House. This is emphasized by Suskind's note that he "let [O'Neill] read the finished manuscript to check for strictly factual errors." This apparent full-disclosure opening belies the fact that the book really is an encomium to its protagonist. There is essentially no independent analysis of the numerous positions and policies put on the table by O'Neill and others in the Bush White House. All we ever get is glowing reviews of O'Neill's ideas. Suskind could have done us a service by applying the same balanced yet critical eye to the White House policy debates that O'Neill is described as always finding as lacking in the White House itself. The strength of Suskind's book lies in its depiction of the personal relationships within the Bush White House, and exactly how the objective-minded heroes of the book -- O'Neill but also Whitman and Greenspan -- got marginalized, and in some cases, eventually squeezed out. For a while now I've generally agreed with many both left and center that Bush is surrounded by a tremendously insular, cloistered circle of advisors, and has neither the wherewithal nor perhaps the desire to broaden the intellectual scope of his administration. This book fully corroborates the belief I and many others have held, and spells out the who, what, and why of it.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read Book for 2004
Review: Must Read Book for 2004 To criticize someone else's clan or tribe
is easy. To criticize your own clan is very hard,
and it takes great bravery.
Paul O'Neill has served several other
Republican presidents, in a very senior
capacity, besides being a captain of
industry.
Paul O'Neill has done a brave and responsible
thing here by letting the people know how its
federal government is currently being run. You'll have to read the book, The Price of
Loyalty, more than once. We can only hope other authors with the high
skill of Ron Suskind, will put pen to paper
and write additional books to illuminate the
inner workings of the United States government
which is; "government of the people, by the
people, and for the people." Paul O'Neill and Ron Suskind are heroes and
their book should be required reading.
Rating:
Summary: Frightening
Review: This is a frightening book. If this were a political conspiracy novel, you'd say the character of Bush was terribly written. It would be impossible to imagine that a country could be so duped into electing someone so thoroughly dim, mean-spirited and ridiculous. But, alas, it's not a novel. It's a very comprehensive behind-the-scenes account from a former Treasury Secretary. And it's hard to dismiss the source. Paul O'Neill is a rock-solid Republican who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He was also a valued consultant to Reagan and George Bush Sr -- AND he's been friends with Donald Rumsfeld and Alan Greenspan for decades. And now the White House is trying to dismiss him as a "disgruntled employee"? Sorry fellas. This just won't wash. One of the concluding observations of the book speaks volumes about what's really going on in this administration (paraphrased below): "Over many months O'Neill went to Cheney to discuss the obvious. The President was caught in an echo chamber, cut off from everyone other than the circle around him -- a circle that conceals him from public view and keeps him away from the one thing he needs most: honest, disinterested perspectives about what's real and what the hell he might do about it. But then "I realized why Dick just nodded along and nothing ever changed...because this is the way Dick likes it." O'Neil had stopped trying to discern where Cheney ended and Bush began. Not only was it not clear -- it wasn't pertinent." Cheney fired O'Neill shortly after. I would hazard a guess that it's unprecedented for a VP to fire a cabinet secretary. Think about that. This is a frightening book.
Rating: 
Summary: no validity whatsoever
Review: Hard to believe that there are so many gullible people out there who mindlessly jump onto any book that criticizes an administration, person, etc. Whatever happened to validifying your information, open debate on policies, and ultimate outcomes years down the road prior to jumping on the current fad of the blabocracy. There is a lot of conjecture about what is really going on, not to mention that O'Neill's popularity as well as wealth is increased immensely by this book. Too much conflict of interest and too many liberals interesting in name-calling and badgering those who are decisive and offer real opportunities for solutions, when the liberals themselves don't have any real substantive opinions or solutions. I recommend reading the book to anyone who is intellectually honest and willing to actually search for real evidence behind these claims.
Rating:
Summary: True Bravery and Courage
Review: True Bravery and Courage To criticize someone else's clan or tribe is easy. To criticize your own clan is very hard and takes
great bravery.
Paul O'Neill has served several other Republican
Presidents in a very senior capacity, besides being
a captain of industry.
Paul O'Neill has done a brave and responsible
thing here letting the people know how its federal
government is currently being mismanaged. I had to read this book more than once. Taken in context with all the other available
information, a truly dark picture materializes. Criticism of the Bush administration is a rational
response to being lied to, cheated, disrespected
and stolen from. Only the truly brainwashed and
uninformed cannot see the malfeasance behind
this administration. People need to remember that
thinking for oneself is not a crime, that differing
with another person is not unpatriotic, and that
realizing corruption has taken over their
government is not hating. Government is something we have to, a must, turn too
in the 21st Century to solve the monstrous problems
of Healthcare, Employment and Corporate over-reaching.
There doesn't seem to be any other mechanism that
can deal with the huge scope of these and other very
real problems that face the mode citizen.
This realization doesn't come from blind ideology,
but from searching. If something better than
Government comes along, many others, and myself,
will vote with our feet, if not with our ballots. Until then, we have to make government work. This book is a brave first step in that direction.
Rating: 
Summary: The Invisible Hand on the Button
Review: The shallowness of some of these reviews is a bit appalling. Not a hatchet job on the President, as some have alleged, nor is it really an indictment of Iraq policy. Certainly it was an agenda item the Administration focused on from the get-go, and obviously 9/11 gave that agenda a boost. But there is something to be said for that policy, and it is not irrational on its face. No the troubling thing about this book is not that the Administration has policies, the troubling thing is that they are arrived at without debate, without engagement, without brooking any discontent. The President is an idealogue. He just doesn't pay attention to anything he is not really interested in and the only thing he really was interested in were tax cuts and Iraq. He uses the bully pulpit to beat us all into accepting those interests, he doesn't really care if we the people have problems with it. It used to be in this country we evaluated candidates based on whether we wanted this person to "have his hand on the button." Do we really want a totally disengaged President who either doesn't understand or doesn't care to understand all the issues in front of him to "have his finger on the button?" This is especially important since he has determined to follow a provacative foreign policy that could easily set the stage for some kind of critical, potentially disastrous conflict. Maybe there is a conservative candidate who could convince me that intellectually and morally the right thing to do is to have tax cuts till we turn blue and fight expensive wars against evil petty dictators at the expense of American lives. But his guy is incapable of doing it -- he has no interest in hearing or believing anything other than what he wants to believe. In short, he is a supply-side fundamentalist. O'Neill is no liberal -- he served in 3 Republican adminsitrations including Nixon's, respected and dealt with Bush Sr. at the CIA, and was himself CEO of a Fortune 500 company. For him to agree to participate in this project is really serious business, and those of us who participate in the electorate should take it seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Bush is The Man
Review: I love all of these critiques of Bush. Obviously you are a bunch of democrats trying to hurt the reputation of a great man becuase of your political ideologies. But maybe you're right. Maybe we should have allowed Hussein to spit in the face of the UN. Yes some of the intelligence was flawed but Saddam needed to go just on the grounds of his repeated violations of UN sanctions. Let's not forget the Clinton administration authorized attacks, though not on the scale of the war, because of his repeated violations. Also do not forget this was a bi-partisan effort to begin the war. As far as the IQ of the President...who cares. I would much rather have a man of average intelligence who is moral and a great leader/adminstrator than a brilliant man who is morally corrupt and lacks self control. Bush is surrounded himself with a great team of people doing a fine job of LEADING the country. Clinton will go down in history as an corrupt president who lied to the American people and made a mockery out of the judicial process and the Presidency.
Rating:
Summary: Ethically Challenged Exposing the Ethically Challenged
Review: Reading "The Price of Loyalty" is unnecessary to write the following review: News reports about Ron Suskind's recently published book telling former Treasury secretary O'Neill's story only confirm my suspicion -- that the President's Handlers had an idealogical determination to invade Iraq long before 9/11 and misled America about the connection between Iraq and terrorism. However, if Mr. O'Neill was so appalled by Bush's incompetence and the veracity of the administration, he had an ethical duty to resign. The fact that Mr. O'Neill failed to resign and is now making profits simply allows the Bush machine to undermine the credibility of his whistleblowing.
Rating: 
Summary: What does he know about loyalty?
Review: I refuse to spend a dime on this book and have no intention of reading it. My time is precious and there are much worthier books to read - try almost every other book on the shelf. This is a typical situation of a disgruntled ex-employee but in the worst degree. Multimillionare didn't get his way and was humiliated and embarrassed by being fired by the Bush administration. How on earth could someone of his caliber, intelligence, resources and experience be fired? Easily Mr. O'Neill, you weren't competent for the job and you were called out on it. I also can't understand the title of this book. Who exactly is this man being loyal to? It seems quite the opposite to me - he betrayed the people he so pledged to serve. This man may have all the money in the world, but there are some things money can't buy. Integrity.
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