Rating: 
Summary: An eye opener
Review: If people read this and aren't shocked and continually have to get up and get a grip on theirselves they aren't reading it!
It should scare the heck out of everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a writer digs into the Bush sewer
Review: After years of puff-pieces on the Bush family from lazy reporters just trying to meet deadline, Kevin Phillips stuns us all by gathering largely public information to show the lies and deceit of the Bush legacy. From the early days in the military industrial complex to the recent "election" to the presidency...lazy reporters have let scandal after scandal, deal after deal...just slide.If nothing else, this book shows our national press corps to be lazy elitists.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Bad
Review: book is okay, makes some hasty judgements and then lags a little toward the end, but still pretty good.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a campaign "weapon," but good history
Review: The Good: Phillips delves into the history of the Bush clan and details the rise, over several generations, of a family consciously dedicated to the pursuit of wealth and power. His account of the Bushes' often heavily veiled involvement in international investments (especially in the oil industry), the U.S. intelligence establishment, Republican politics, and, more recently, in "evangelical Republicanism," are enlightening as to how wealth and power are developed and maintained in modern America. The Bad: For those of us who would use this book as a club to help knock George W. Bush out of the White House in November 2004, it is a rather unwieldy weapon. Phillips's evident dislike of the two Presidents Bush is muted and hardly undercuts the evidence he brings forth regarding their financial, political, and intelligence activities over the years. But the story is a very complex one, involving many threads that Phillips tries to weave into a coherent storyline. He doesn't always succeed. If you are looking for a book to present to a pro-Bush friend or relative, as I was, as a very obvious "smoking gun" with which to argue against Dubya's re-election, this just ain't it, despite all the valid, sound information Phillips presents. The real value of this book, which is why I can rate it so highly and recommend it to anyone, is in demonstrating the way that America's corporate/government establishment really works. There is a strong case to be made that the machinations of this establishment over the past one hundred years, however sinister they may seem to some people, have produced a strong and prosperous United States. But one may also question, as Phillips does, whether the secret dealings of a relative handful of powerful men and families are always in the best interest of either Americans as individuals or of America as democratic society. One has only to consider the current war in Iraq: Our president states that we invaded Iraq, essentially, to defend America's security and freedom by overthrowing an evil dictator; but one is led to believe that, in the mind of George W. Bush and his corporate supporters, "security" means the preservation of their own wealth and power, which means preserving the present U.S. economic structure; and that preservation is directly tied to an uninterrupted flow of oil from the wells of the Mideast to the gasoline tanks and power plants of the United States. They see their own interests as the interests of all Americans. Could they be right? Think of the disruption in the U.S. economy - in the global economy for that matter - if Mideastern oil supplies were suddenly and substantially diminished. Our society and lifestyle have been built upon cheap gasoline and electricity, provided by fossil fuels. The Bushes and their cronies understand this reality with a depth that most Americans can hardly comprehend. And, as Phillips argues, the average American increasingly seems willing to trust his or her rights (and obligations) of citizenship to an imperialistic U.S. government controlled by political and corporate elites. Many of these elites probably mean well in serving all Americans, but is their dominance in our government and in our economy a sign of a decaying democracy? What Phillips sees at stake is not just the influence of the Bush family and the re-election of George W., but America's democratic legacy itself. He points out that Democrats, too, have their elites and dynasties (Democrat Averill Harriman -- railroad heir, diplomat and New York governor -- was a close business associate of the Bushes; and if you count Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Kennedy dynasty now encompasses both major political parties). Rumors that Hillary Clinton is determined to seek the White House reinforce Phillips's contention that some Americans, at least, find something comforting in such familial continuity holding the reins of power. This is not a book that is going to dissuade a fervent Bush supporter from voting for his re-election; a "swing" voter who is willing to take the time to read the book might find it influential. But "American Dynasty" is most definitely a book that will enlighten those with the eyes to see just how the establishment works. The Bushes, for better or worse, are definitely a part of that establishment. Quibble: Lots of source endnotes (and not just from "Vanity Fair!") but no bibliography.
Rating: 
Summary: Much More than Merely an Attack Against the Bush Family
Review: In this work Kevin Phillips has launched an assault against the Bush Family. This much I expected before I ever even cracked the book. However, what I did not expect was Phillips' disdain for Christianity or the religious conservative right. Phillips' focus is on how four generations of Bushes have progressively risen to political power in order to gain and maintain a financial and social empire (or dynasty).
Phillips drives home his main point in this work right off the bat by stating, in the introduction, "Such inheritance has no American precedent; it trespasses, at least spiritually, on the governance framed by Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison. Hereditary rulers were to be feared, the founders knew, even when, like the fifteenth-century Medicis of Florence, they initially chose to keep the framework of the republic in place." Here we read what will be the overarching trend in Phillips' work. Namely, that the Bushes have established a dynasty, which is a thing feared by the founders because it smacks of Monarchy. It would seem that Phillips should spend a little more time reading the founding fathers and especially American revolutionary history, since it was certain freedoms (e.g. religious freedoms, freedom of press and speech, free enterprise, and the problem of taxation without representation) that drove the people on this continent to rebel against England (a Monarchy).
Phillips, in this work, spends an enormous amount of time comparing the current Bush administration and the "Bush Dynasty" to former Monarchies. In fact, I do not think that Phillips understands the differences between 'monarchy,' 'anarchy,' and 'democracy,' since he continuously equivocates between these three terms throughout this work. In fact at one point in the book Phillips declares, "Needless to say, the motivations and convulsions of a twentieth-century republic cannot precisely, or even very closely, match those of kingdoms in earlier centuries." However, in the same paragraph, Phillips does the very thing that he just stated could not be done, namely match those 'kingdoms.' He does this when he declares (in the SAME paragraph), "Revealingly, the Bush restoration mirrored some behaviors and mind-sets visible earlier in the Stuart and Bourbon reenthronements." If Phillips thinks that the convulsions and motivations of a twentieth century republic "cannot precisely, or even very closely, match those of kingdoms in earlier century," why is he busy doing that throughout this work?
Phillips' work is not merely an attack against the Bushes (with an emphasis attack on George W.), it is also an attack on what Phillips' calls "religious white Protestants." (see p.142 and 212) Because, as Phillips describes, George W. Bush's personally failures (i.e. growing up in the shadow of a successful family, disdain for Ivy League elites, then wandering around the Sun Belt in a series of National Guard assignments and unsuccessful jobs and enterprises), he fit the "Fundamentalism Project's 'frustration' criteria." (p.212). Of course, it seems that all "religious white Protestants" who fail in one sense of the other fit this criteria, according to Phillips anyway, since there is a Fundamentalism 'radar' out there spotting those who fall into this criteria so they can gear them up for the Presidency. The language that Phillips uses to describe Christians in this work include 'Militant white Protestants,' (p.212) 'white Dixie born-again Christians,' (p.214) 'religious white Protestants,' (p.142), 'white Protestants' (p.143), etc. All these phrases are used in a pejorative sense, and what I am trying to figure out as I read the book, which is worse for Phillips, being 'white' or being 'Protestant?'
Phillips uses a single article from the Washington Post (p.224) that sites Gary Bauer's comments that Pat Robertson has stepped down as leader of the religious right because George Bush has taken over that position, and with that comment, Phillips concludes that George Bush is the "leader of the nation's Christian Right." (p. 223) Now, having read this I started asking those who consider themselves a part of the Christian right consider George Bush the leader of that group. All, without exception said 'NO!' In fact most responded that they did not realize there was 'leader of a so-called Christian Right.' So what I am trying to figure out is why, based on one person's opinion in a single article, Phillips can come to this conclusion. However, the reason that Phillips comes to this conclusion seems evident in the rest of this work. While he does not come right out and flatly say this, Phillips indicates in many various ways, that we should all be worried in this country if we have a President who is a born-again Christian. For various reasons, Phillips believes that a person cannot be Christian and be an effective President. What is more, Phillips goes on to imply that George W. Bush is probably just using Christian verbiage, and toting the Christian 'label' to win elections (the possibility that Bush is truly a Christian never seems to be an option for Phillips, just a political maneuver for Bush according to Phillips). Moreover, Phillips discusses certain 'Christian' individuals (e.g. Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, etc.) and their views, political beliefs, etc. as if they represent Christianity as a whole. This is, plainly put, very misleading to his readers, and is just not the case.
This book was very disappointing. Perhaps I had higher expectations for the work before I actually began to read it. However, regardless of my expectations, the work merely seemed to be an attack on the Bushes and on Christianity. If Phillips thinks that George W.'s being a Christian poses problems for his being President, then Phillips is mistaken. I was under the impression that the work would be about the Bushes and their quest for leadership in this country and how that might pose certain problems politically. I was sorely disappointed when it ended up being a tirade against Bush, his being Christian, and the Christian religion, not an objective look at what Phillips would label the 'Bush Dynasty.'
Instead of Phillips' book, I would recommend Peter Schweitzer and Rochelle Schweizer's work titled, "The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty." I think it is a much more fair assessment of the Bushes.
Rating:
Summary: The real(sad) truth about the Bush family
Review: Approximately fifty pages into this book, I stopped reading the text and read the author information from the covers. I was very surprised to learn that he is a former Republican strategist. His book, "The Emerging Republican Majority", was called the political bible of the Nixon campaign in 1968. He served as Special Assistant to the Attorney General in the Nixon administration and after Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980, he was called the Republican party's leading electoral theoretician. He is also considered a first rate historical commentator, having written over a dozen books, most on American history and politics. With these credentials, he can hardly be characterized as a liberal bush-basher.
Nevertheless, he sure sounds like one. This book is a scathing (to put it mildly) account of the actions of the Bush family. His contempt for George H. W. Bush (H. W.) and George W. Bush (W.) is apparent on almost every page. He goes back through four generations of the Bush family, describing how both sides managed to acquire their wealth and privilege. However, at some points he does overextend his arguments. While two generations of the Bush family have attained the presidency and there is the possibility that Governor Jeb of Florida may also do so, calling the family a dynasty is overstating the case. H. W. was soundly defeated in his reelection bid and W. barely won in 2000 and is facing some difficult challenges. His presidency could still collapse in failure over the war in Iraq and mounting social costs in the U. S.
The most overstated points are when Phillips relates the Bush family to old-style European monarchies. I consider both Bush presidents to have been bad presidents but it is really stretching a point to compare them to hereditary monarchs who ruled in Europe centuries ago. The American republic bears no resemblance to those times and the American public has several times proven to be politically fickle.
Aside from the overstatements, this is a book that follows the historical path of the Bush political family and having been a political junkie for several decades, I was reminded of many events. While some of the events he described involved Democratic criticisms, most comments were those of Republicans. People such as Ronald Reagan and Patrick Buchanan had a low opinion of H. W., and there were times when W. was the target of some serious Republican criticism.
If you were to read this book without knowing anything about the author, your conclusion would almost certainly be that a liberal Democrat on a personal vendetta wrote it. The fact that a senior Republican was the author makes it one of the most important political commentaries of our times. Phillips is a man who states his opinions and backs them up with facts. He also is one of a group that seem to be growing in prominence recently, a Republican who firmly believes the policies of George W. Bush are a disaster for the country. Phillips also makes a strong case that the Bush family is morally destitute, controlled by the moneyed interests and as the title states, one that operates largely on lies and deceit. I strongly recommend that you read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of information.
Review: American Dynasty is a very thorough book of the President's family history and how, through his blood, he got to be president. It delves deeply into the life and dealings of Prescott Bush (Bush the 43rd's grandfather and former Senator of CT) and his business involvement with Brown Brothers Harriman in supplying Germans with weaponry during the 1930's. If you're looking for just another anti-Bush book, this isn't it. This book takes a look at the founding of the Bush dynasty and its amazing rise to power. Phillips stresses how the Bushes have made no real contribution to society, and nothing about their lives would qualify them as presidential. It is somewhat of a difficult read because of its incredible detail but is worthwhile if you have an interest in how a man like George W. Bush ever got to where he is today.
Rating:
Summary: If you care about our country, read this book!
Review: A must read for every American who still believes our nation should be a democratic republic and not some bastardization of an an aristrocratic monarchy. Phillips, a lifelong Republican, is truly "fair and balanced" in this well written, extensively researched and impeccably documented look at the Bush Dynasty. This is not a liberal, "sour grapes" tome about George W. Bush. It serves as a warning for us about any dynasty that would usurp our liberty - Bush, Kennedy, Clinton, etc. A real eye-opener that should serve as a wake up call to anyone who would call themselves a patriot. Read this book and see if you can still support Bush. I did and I can't.
Rating:
Summary: A Devastating and Disturbing Family Portrait
Review: For anyone interested in the precarious state of political and economic affairs and international relations in America today, AMERICAN DYNASTY is an absolute Must Read. Author Kevin Phillips connects the myriad dots across four generations of the Bush/Walker clan: Skull and Bones, oil and finance businesses, CIA and foreign intelligence activities, Saudi Arabia and Transcaspia, arms and military supply businesses, and radical religious fundamentalism. The family portrait that emerges is a chilling and appalling picture of privilege, favoritism, secrecy, cynicism, deceit, dubious financial dealings, political opportunism, insularity, vengefulness, and crony capitalism little different from the robber barons of a century ago. Phillips clearly establishes that no family in American political history has been so tightly connected, and beholden, to oil interests, military-industrial concerns, and intelligence community operatives as the two Bush Presidents.
As a former Republican strategist, Phillips' perceptions (like those of David Brock in BLINDED BY THE RIGHT) gain credence from his abhorrence of what he has finally perceived from the Right. Much of the information he presents in AMERICAN DYNASTY has been published before in other places, some to great notoriety, much of it less well known. The success of this book comes from tying so much disparate information together in a single view, in particular the family antecedents that color George W. Bush's worldview. If ever a President has been manufactured on the model of Robert Redford's infamous THE CANDIDATE, Phillips demonstrates how George W.'s empty shell has been filled by his grandfather, father, family friends, Yale buddies, and the combined ministries of Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Jim and Tammy Bakker.
Many of Phillips' observations are both compelling and dismaying, such as:
-- George H.W. Bush's conflict-of-interest-ridden, highly lucrative involvement with the influence peddling Carlyle Group while his son is still in office (while past Presidents Carter and Clinton spend their time on affordable housing and AIDS).
-- The connection between George W. Bush's war in Iraq and Christian evangelicals' hopes for Armageddon and the "end of days" arising from the Middle East.
-- The seamy appointments of Chief Justice Rehnquist's daughter and Justice Scalia's son to high-level government positions following their parents' anointment of George W. Bush as President by judicial fiat (not to mention the appointment of Colin Powell's son as chairman of the FCC).
-- The even seamier role of Wendy Gramm, chair of the CFTC and wife of Texas Republican Senator Phil Gramm, in shortening a year-long review process to two months and approving regulations just days before Clinton's inauguration that effectively set the stage for the Enron financial fiasco by removing their financing activities, at their request, from her own jurisdiction! A month later, she was named to the Enron Board of Directors and received $1-2 million over the next eight years for her services.
-- Bush II's decision to ship his Texas gubernatorial papers to his father's Presidential library where they would be held inaccessible through restrictive new privacy policies pushed through by Bush himself.
-- The SEC's "inadvertent" destruction of the 1960-1966 filings of Zapata Offshore Petroleum in 1981, shortly after Bush I became Vice President (eerily similar to other convenient disappearances, such as Bush II's National Guard service records).
On the minus side, AMERICAN DYNASTY suffers at times from Phillips penchant for detail. While clearly well-researched, the author's drive to include every minute factoid lessens the overall impact of his thesis and complicates the reader's task. Nevertheless, AMERICAN DYNASTY offers important and deeply disturbing insights into America's declining democracy and deteriorating standing in the world community. Among the many failings of the American mass media in recent years, connecting the threads and critically examining the Bush family history has been one of its greatest. Phillips does here what nearly the entire journalistic profession has failed to do - painted a picture unfiltered by Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh.
A Bush/Cheney empire built on massive military power freely wielded in the service of American economic interests, a good and evil, "end of days" worldview, casual disregard for our allies, and financial self-dealing, all conducted under veils of secrecy, compromised civil liberties, and threat of treason for aiding and abetting our terrorist enemies, hardly represents the ideals of our Founding Fathers. If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, he'd have probably already left Virginia for Canada. Kevin Phillips' AMERICAN DYNASTY explains in part why so many Blue State Americans have the same inclination.
Rating: 
Summary: Is that all there is?
Review: I guess I expected something earth shattering given the sub-title of the book, but if this is "intellectual and political dynamite," well, here's another example of journalistic hype.
After reading this book, I voter for Bush.
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