The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America - Hardcover

Alterman, Eric; Green, Mark J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670032735 ISBN 13: 9780670032730

Publisher: Viking Adult, 2004

Synopsis

A critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush reveals how the current administration has used misstatements, half-truths, distortions, and other deceptions to mislead Americans and how this manipulation has led to failed policies, hindered homeland security, damaged foreign relations, and undermined efforts to improve the economy. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

While other liberal-minded books, written by everyone from documentary filmmakers to political strategists to comedians, have been broadly critical of the entire early 21st-century conservative universe, Eric Alterman and Mark J. Green have narrowed their focus to the man living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And unlike some of their contemporaries, they choose to largely eschew the clever metaphors and whimsical storytelling to get right at their pointed criticisms of George W. Bush, whom they accuse of being less than honest with the American people while serving the interests of large corporations, the religious right, and neoconservative ideologues. Such charges, by themselves, are so commonplace by this point as to be unremarkable but Alterman and Green provide voluminous, detailed research and come at the case with the vigor of prosecuting attorneys certain of a defendant's guilt or maybe a pair of exceptionally ambitious graduate students ready to present a final dissertation. They contrast sections of Bush's public statements, especially campaign rhetoric, that seem to strike a centrist, conciliatory tone with evidence of his actions that veer hard right and contradict the very things he had said. Some of Bush's words come off more as simple talking points on complex issues than outright deception, and the authors do stop short of calling Bush a liar, but even in these situations, the president still comes off as either out of touch or disingenuous. And though some of their supporting material comes from opinion pieces in publications like the New Republic, serving more to echo the authors' perspective than document it, there's plenty more from objective sources and raw factual data. Liberals will find plenty in The Book on Bush to arm them in arguments against conservatives and they'll have the evidence to make their case. --John Moe

About the Author:

Mark Green is the president of the New Democracy Project and was recently a distinguished visiting lecturer at the NYU School of Law.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0670032735
• ISBN 13: 9780670032730
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448