Rating: 
Summary: The truth hurts
Review: There HAVE been books written about the Kennedy Dynasty, HUNDREDS of them, and I'm sure they were slammed by Liberals and gloated over by Conservatives. Why is it so difficult for people to simply judge a book on its merits? George W. Bush is the President, therefore there will be books written about him. I voted for George Bush and I realize now that had I known ANYTHING about him, I would not have done so. I've since read several books about Junior, including "Fortunate Son" (which is much tougher on the Prez) and I think "American Dynasty" is the best of the bunch. I was hoping for more info on Prescott Bush but the tons of stuff about Junior's ascent to the White House made up for it. This book is highly critical of the President. So What. Americans have to decide which is more important: The image of the President or the welfare of the Nation.
Rating: 
Summary: An Astonishing Book from a Courageous GOP Strategist
Review: Given Kevin Phillips'standing as a Republican stategist, this expose of the Bush dynasty is simply shocking. Phillips unearths a mountain of evidence in this well-researched book to prove that the Bushes are about accumulating personal wealth. Period. Had this book been written by a liberal, I would worry that the facts were skewed. However, Phillips is a GOP insider who finds the immorality and greed of the Bush so distasteful that he had to write this book. One has to respect his courage.
Rating:
Summary: Is it really a dynasty?
Review: Mr. Phillips starts with an interesting premise. He compares the Bush family to other historical dynasties. While doing this he exposes some of the little known history of this very secretive family. Although I am no fan of the current Bush president, I had always assumed that his father was a man of principle. However, I question that now, too. The evidence that Mr. Phillips presents certainly makes it appear that the Bush family is more driven by their own agenda rather than by any thought for the common good of our nation. The discussion of George W. Bush's fundamentalism is frightening and the Reagan-Bush campaign's interference in the return of the Iranian hostages is horrifying.Although Mr. Phillips family dynasty theory is interesting, I don't agree that this is a problem in itself. I tend to suspect that much of the electoral success that Mr. Phillips categorizes as a "dynasty" is really just name recognition. Certainly body builders, actors, wrestlers, and even former first ladies have run successful first time campaigns in recent years and I suspect that this is really the basis for the success of the younger Bush generation. I think his insistence on this theory weakens his narrative. Drawing historic parallels is interesting, but doesn't really help to support the premise and does distract a bit from the real importance of the book. Although I think his main theory is weak, as a work of political biography, this book is an important one. It is well written, organized, and appropriately documented.
Rating:
Summary: if you read the book you will find . . .
Review: that Phillips does indeed discuss the Kennedys and points out that while the Clintons are not currently a dynasty, if Hillary were to run and win in 2008, they also would constitute a dynasty. He also deplores appointments to major positions of the children of Colin Powell, Justice Scalia, and Strom Thurmond, a tendency that he correctly points out that the Founders would have deplored. Phillips point in the book is that dynasties are dangerous to America, and the focus is on the Bush family simply because a Bush--and not a Kennedy or a Clinton--is in the White House at the moment. [...]
Rating:
Summary: Cutting Critique
Review: Those engaged in politics will remember Philips for his famous work written in the late 60's for his bosses in the Nixon Administration about the coming Republican Majority through a shift of southern and blue collar Midwestern workers embracing the GOP. Despite the nadir of Watergate, his predictions proved prescient, as the GOP over the following 30 years swept through the south, riding it to victory in a majority of recent presidential elections. Philips credentials as a Republican remain unassailable, which makes this critique of the current Bush administration so damning. Philips, a man whose politics might best be described as Republican populism, fully admits his dislike of the Bush family stretches back decades, however this does not lessen the strength of his argument which in effect has two parts. The first, that politics in America seems to be leaning in an increasingly dynastic direction to me seems a bit weak. While yes several high officials currently holding office followed brothers and fathers into their positions, this can hardly be called unique to the current period. Indeed, similar patterns appear all the way back to the early 19th century in some offices - famously Hamilton Fish seat in New York was held by members of one family for three generations of men with the same name, ending only in the 1990's. This does not mean that congress is on the verge of becoming a house of lords as he at one point argues. The vast majority of office holders are not dynastic. In attempting to make this case Philips weakens what might be an argument better supporting his case against the Bush family - that increasingly American political office is becoming an oligarchy as more and more millionaires and even billionaires spend their wealth to claim high office. What in Philips mind would make such people better than the Bush family is that they tend to make money and then enter government, rather than using government office and connections as a means to build vast wealth. Philips's charges against the President and his family are hard hitting and generally seem well supported. That both his great grandfathers, Mr. Walker and Mr. Bush used their political power and Wall Street connections to amass great wealth is seemingly undeniable. So to is how the family's unabashed willingness to use power to add to their and their friends wealth while at the same time putting forward the image of genteel WASP's in the North and down home folksy in the South. An easy example is the current President's inability to explain how his father's friends willingly bought a succession of failed businesses from him at a handsome profit and then made this failed executive the managing partner of a multi-million dollar baseball franchise. Equally damning is how those who heaped this largess on Bush the younger earned favor, access, and therefore wealth through the help of Bush the elder. Most disturbing is Philips's portrayal of the Bush family of ultimately considering average Americans both gullible and contemptible for their naiveté. This argument marries well with the book recently published by former Treasury Secretary O'Neil. Both create the impression of a family that like the King of France sees their own fortunes as identical to those of the state and therefore considers nothing wrong with doling out contracts to cronies. The current Halliburton debacle is only the most recent and well known of a long line of cases that seem to indicate this troubling stream of aristocracy that runs through the current President's family. The same could well be said for the President's strenuous defense of Saudi Arabia, despite their great support of terror, perhaps due to his family's great financial dependence on the House of Saud because of their support of their oil and arms holding. While Philips's work is not without flaws, particularly in his over use of rather weak historical analogy, his evidence against the Bush family remain something every citizen should consider in the run up to the next election. If Philips is right, the stakes are nothing short of the health of our democracy.
Rating:
Summary: Devastating Critique with the Facts to Back it up
Review: This is a book to either love or hate. I fall in the first category because I think it is an orignal, well-researched, well written, and devastating view of the president and his family's 100-year rise to power. Though Phillips is not above voicing opinions and drawing conclusions where absolute, incontravertable facts are lacking, I do not believe that the standard we as a society apply in criminal cases (beyond a reasonable doubt) is appropriate to to his case. There are more than enough facts here to make his pointÑthat Bush family dynasty represents a truly dangerous trend in American political life. Personally, I find the facts sited by Phillips more compelling than the kind of "facts" accepted by a majority of Bush's supporters, that is, the description of the creation found in Genesis, or the end of the world found in Revelations. Thoughtful Libertarians will find this book engaging, as will other conservatives with an open mind. As one who was raised in a (very) conservative home, but who ultimately abandoned conservatism in favor of a more realistic view of the world, this book delivers a potentially mortal blow to this family's designs on power.
Rating: 
Summary: It's all about greed and ego
Review: This book depicts how four generations have elevated the Bush's to fame and power. It depicts a lot of raw dealings, a rise to fame and power. I liked Al Gore's coments today when he said that G.W. Bush is a "moral liar." Way to go Al!The Bush Dynasty is all about greed and ego. A rise to power at the expence of the people.Phillips has written an excellent book. One star reviewers, try reading something besides comic books. Read Kevin Phillps book and maybe you will actually learn something.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely, critically important book
Review: I cannot begin to express how absolutely important this book is in terms of the overview it gives of the Bush family and what really drives them. Being politically aware already, I had already heard some of this in newspaper reports before the 2000 election and couldn't believe that more people weren't alarmed just by the facts about George W. Bush and what he did in Texas, or how insidious and elusive the truth was concerning what all his father was involved in. This book fleshes out not only the trickles of truth that had already emerged concerning the Bushes (and the neo-conservatives' self-serving loyalties), but a whole - and in terms of the welfare of the average American - terrible long term agenda. Read this book. It is not propaganda. The man did his research and the truth is what it is. Then tell everyone you know about it. I have.
Rating:
Summary: Devastating critique of the Bush aristocracy.
Review: Kevin Phillips, republican and author of the party's 'southern strategy,' has written an honest and devastating critique of the Bush aristocracy. In it, he details "the politics of deceit in the House of Bush," accusing the administration of dishonesty and secrecy that would make 'tricky' Dick Nixon blush.
He traces the course of Bush's family over the past 100 years, detailing how they sought influence "in the back corridors" of the oil and defense industries, investment banking and the intelligence establishment. Elites, not elections, put Bush in power. "Four generations of building toward dynasty have infused the Bush family's hunger for power and practices of crony capitalism with a moral arrogance and backstage disregard of the democratic and republican traditions of the U.S. government." As a result, he says, "deceit and disinformation have become Bush political hallmarks."
A must read for all Americans concerned about our country's future!
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: This is a good book. For those of us who are informed, however, the book provides little new information. The source of the information being from such a high-level, former republican does raise an eyebrow. It is refreshing to see some republicans can change their minds so radically and come out for the truth. Especially interesting are some of the new details about the October Surprise engeneered by the Reagan / Bush / Iranian Hostage takers. [...]
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