Rating: 
Summary: A good read for Europe!
Review: Europeans ought to know how American cronyism works. The influence of the Bushes concerning Germany is interesting. Otherwise the author displays too much personal animosity and tries to depict the Bushes as a royal clan.
That`s the flaw of the book.
Rating:
Summary: American Dynasty
Review: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips cleverly presents us with historical facts and memorable events. The book is very good and I enjoyed it very much. See it because it really makes an amazing viewing experience. I couldn't believe my eyes. From history, speeches to insanity and the mad world of politics. Happy reading and viewing!!
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Awful
Review: Now I'm not a Bush hater or a Bush lover but I was hoping to learn some Bush history. This book isn't about the history of this family but a long argument on how they have messed up the entire world by their views. The beginnings of each chapter actually starts out pretty good then drags into statistics and unfounded statements of the writers belief. He tries to draw out comparsions of Clinton and Bush. Wait and buy this book on the bargain book table if you must read it. One of the worst political science/history books I've read recently.
Rating:
Summary: Often slapdash, sometimes sophistic, entirely a disapointmen
Review: Another reviewer described this book as a polemic; I would call it the published equivalent of an Oliver Stone conspiracy theory movie, hence my ranking and disappointment.Here is a topic begging for considered discussion and examination. How does one American family come to accrue so much power? And how did this family do it with so little serious examination along the way?(Just compare on Amazon the number of books about the Kennedys to those about the Bushes). What does this suggest about the United States today and in the future? I had hoped that Phillips was the author to examine these questions adroitly. The Preface and Introduction sections indicate that he appreciates the enormity and import of the task at hand and thus I read on with anticipation. Well, I was hugely disappointed. In my view the book is a collection of poorly structured hints at conspiracies and plots rather than an enlightening discussion of how and why the Bushes came to be where they are today. Even the supposed facts and anecdotes Phillips provides throughout the book --almost always to score a quick and damning point against one Bush or another-- generally strike me as taken so far out of context or presented with so little common sense or understanding that the value of the point is completely lost. One minor but illustrative example: Phillips early on writes that Prescott Bush, as a new Army captain in 1918, "foolishly sent a joke letter to his hometown newspapper, The Columbus State-Journal, announcing that he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Victoria Cross, and the Legion of Honor on WW1's western front for saving the lives of Generals Pershing, Foch and Haig by bringing down an almost fatal artillery shell with his bolo knife". This is meant to show the sophmoric and permament adolesence which Phillips says characterizes Bush men. Hello? I don't see this letter as evidence of some genetic character flaw in the Bushes. Maybe it is not hugely funny, but the guy was 23 and in the Army. Unfortunately this example is not unusual. A well structured, thoughtful review of how one family with links to the oil industry, politics and national intelligence produces one Senator, two Presidents and a current Governor sure would be timely and a great review of how power in America works. I so regret that this book fails to do this. Perhaps the explanation for this can be found in the author's Acknowledgements where he states "this book would not have reached rapid fruition without the help of a number of others." The Bushes and the topic of how power works in the US today need more than a rapid work up. Maybe we need a new John Dos Passos to give these subjects proper treatment.
Rating: 
Summary: You're a mean one, Mr. Bush.
Review: The Bush legacy (in part): 1) A stolen election, decided by officials in Florida and The U.S. Supreme Court. (I, for one, had not realized how handily Al Gore would have won Florida, had votes been counted legitimately... the final "margin" was less than 1000 votes. In A SINGLE COUNTY, there were 3,000 ballots discounted because they were double-punched, once for Gore, and once for Pat Buchanan. Give me a break. Bush shouldn't even be in office.) Phillips' chapter on the Florida election results makes for fascinating reading; it encapsulates in a nutshell what happened and why. 2) A circle of executive branch leaders almost completely beholden to corporate interests. (Phillips details this expertly, with a blizzard of names from Bush family dealings, including many leaders of industry who unsurprisingly were Skull and Bones alumni of Yale, like father and son Bush. George Herbert Walker and Prescott Bush were also up to their ears in nasty big business, including business with Germany in the 1930's, and Phillips covers the bases there as well.) 3) Hatred for George W. Bush (and, to a lesser degree, hatred for Americans) is on the rise in the Middle East and Muslim nations worldwide. G.W. Bush led a first-strike war against Iraq, on the pretense that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and would use them against the USA. Such weapons have not been found. Now President Bush forges ahead, with the stated intent of making Iraq into a democracy. Oh, please. Iraq is now a quagmire. The wiser father, George H.W. Bush, saw no workable "exit strategy" in Iraq, and chose to forgo taking out Hussein. 4) The American public is increasingly distrustful of government. Who can blame us? Bush's administration lies and misleads, and creates a huge web of secrecy around its actions. 5) Alliances with oppressive "friendly" countries, and distrustful antagonistic relationships with democracies. Saudi Arabia is a terrible ally, but George H.W. Bush has been in bed with oil sheikhs and the Saudi government since the 1970's, at least. The majority of hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia. Their country is terribly oppressive towards most of its citizens, particularly women, yet the USA is Saudi Arabia's unwavering friend on the geopolitical stage. Consider that the Bush Administration seems more friendly toward Saudi Arabia than towards France. Kevin Phillips has done a service by writing American Dynasty. The book has faults, but on balance the book is a solid political history of the Bush family and a fair indictment of that family's actions on the national and world stages. May we Americans hope (and work) for a better set of rulers the next time around.
Rating:
Summary: If Nothing Else, Read Part III
Review: Just read Part III. The author's writing style makes reading the book laborious, and I don't think he makes a good case for the Bush family becoming a political dynasty. However, chapters 7 and 8, The American Presidency and the Rise of the Religious Right, and Indiana Bush and the Axis of Evil, were real eye-openers for me. To sum it up: George W. thinks he's on a mission from god to save the world from evil. No wonder he can't think of anything he has done wrong. He thinks God speaks to him, so how could he do anything wrong? This is scary, folks. The book talks about how the religious right was in on a political strategy to lay low during the Bush presidential campaign in order to appeal to a wider segment of voters. Once Bush was in office, some of his closest advisors became religious leaders like Graham and Falwell. What do we have here, a president or a power-drunk missionary sitting in the most powerful office in the world? It's almost like having the Pope sitting in the oval office. The Iraq war is not primarily about oil or our national security, it's a religious war instigated by an American president who ought to know better. I don't think Bush is stupid, but he is incredibly naïve to think that he can change the world, as he said in his speech during his last press conference. Give him another four years, and Iraq will only be the beginning of our problems.
Rating:
Summary: A Waste of Perfectly Good Paper and Ink
Review: While Phillips is admittedly a reasonably good story-teller, the book is nothing but an unfortunate re-hash of old diatribes, biases and liberal conspiracy theories. The lack of primary sources and his continuous use of secondary sources with long-standing political axes to grind is unnerving and annoying. Whatever credibility the book may have had is destroyed by the lack of objective, original research or documentation. I'm both proud of having finished it - perseverance has not been one of my strong points - and a bit embarrassed to have wasted so much time. The book is neither informative nor charming. If you don't like President Bush, there are better, more effective attacks, and if you do like the President, this hash of old invective will merely raise your blood pressure.
Rating:
Summary: sobering
Review: A sobering, compelling look at the rise of the Bush family through overt and covert operations. The author is a respected Republican strategist, hardly a foaming-at-the-mouth conspiracy theorist. Definitely worth a read, especially if you are at all concerned about the power held by this one family.
Rating:
Summary: Guilt by BLOODLINE? Good Grief....
Review: My kingdom for a scrape of objectivity in these frothing-at-the-mouth "Hate Bush" books that keep being spewed out by a series of venom-filled charlatans. This time around, it's guilt by BLOODLINE! That's right. It's not just Dubya that's evil. It's not just Pappy. Nope, it's the entire FAMILY. Does that mean it's not George W.'s fault that he's the Antichrist (if the left believed in that sort of thing)? After all, he was just born to it! He can't control his "evil" DNA! Get a LIFE.
Rating:
Summary: Liberal Drivel
Review: The liberals are getting very desperate and to attack the charachter of one Americas best families is a low blow indeed. The Bush family is one of Americas true gems; they all have true faith, firm morals and ethics. Liberals can not stomach this and want moral relativism and anti religious legislation.
| 
