George Bush

By: Parmet, Herbert S.

Book Overview

In the first full biography of the former president, award-winning historian and biographer Herbert S. Parmet draws from George Bush's personal papers to look at the man who led America through the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068419452X
• ISBN13: 9780684194523
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Fair evaluation of our 41st president

The Life of a Lone Star Yankee provides an interesting and thoughtful look a George Bush Sr. and how his life impacted his presidency. Parmet provides a balanced look at Bush looking at not only his presidential time but his personal and business life as well. He traces Bush's role as a man who makes money and then enters public service and approaches it as a family way of life. By taking a family approach and showing how the eldest Bush impacted his son and grandson the 43rd president a pattern does begin to emerge. Barbra's role as a mediator and show piece of family values is also apparent throughout his life. George Bush Sr. seems to relish being President and strove to make the best decisions possible within each of the decisions he made as President. From war with Iraq and Panama to social decisions such as Supreme Court nominees and tax hikes he gave careful thought to each decision. His skills as a campaigner were impressive and well detailed and his rise was largely through the talent of Ronald Reagan's teams and not his own. Parmet shows the successes in school, business, and marriage, his time at the CIA and his accomplishments as President. On the other side he shows the struggles in campaigning, in his role as vice president and reconciling his beliefs with Reagan as well as the trials and tribulations as President. If one is looking for a biography that bashes the president this is not it but it does point out his faults and despite what other reviews said it is not simply the greatness of Bush but a fair evaluation. Overall this book provides a look at if you want an excellent overview of George Bush Sr than this is the place to start.

Interesting biography of an underestimated president

To me as a non-American it has always been a puzzle why George Bush is generally regarded as mediocre and after reading the thoughtful and very complete biography by mr. Parmet I have not found the answer.Bush has been a succesful businessman after a distinguisged service in the Air Force during the war. He has served as a Senator, as head of the CIA, as the Ambassador to China in an extremely interesting period in Sino-American relations and, finally, as a Vice-President to a very succesful President. What more can you ask as preparation for the most powerful job on earth? It is true that he failed to get elected twice, but is it not a credit to any man when he overcomes defeat to embark on such an interesting career?The view which I get from this biography is on a balanced man who understood politics very well and also had the gift of personal integrity unmatched by most of his predecessors and certainly not by his successor. It is true that he was not the greatest of communicators and PR guys, but there one should not forget that he had a very difficult, if not impossible act to follow. It is to his credit that he did not even try to imitate Reagan, but that he led the country in his own personal style.One should forgive for being biased, as a European, to his Foreign Policy, since my understanding for and interest in the domestic scene is limited. Bush Presidency can be characterised by formidable leadership in two distinguished events. His conduct of the events of the Gulf War was exemplary. Powell get's a lot of the credit, but I feel that is, partly, undeserved. It was the President's deciding leadership which effectively stopped Saddam's adventure in Kuwait. Of all the wars in which the US got involved after 1945 the handling of the Gulf War was the most succesful. It has been an act of extraordinary diplomacy and brinkmanship to get e.g. Saudi Arabia and Israel on one line. Haven't we all been worried about the Tel Aviv reaction after the first scud missiles hit the country? Personnaly I will not forget the relief I felt when, in the middle of the night in Europe, I saw and listened to Bush anouncing the invasion. This was clearly a leader who believed in what he was doing and who felt to be in full control, aware of the risks of his venture.A second event has been the unification of Germany. After all the rhetoric of the Reagan administration, it was under Bush that this extraordinary process was done swiftly and with great succes and, most astonishing, without bloodshed. I am aware that the prime players were Kohl and Gorbachov, but it could never have been done without the full support and the tacit agreement of the US. Indeed, by taking a silent and , overtly, modest role Bush did exactly the right thing. I don't think under Reagan, it would have been as smooth. All this is reconted in this book in fine scholarly detail, which distinguishes this author from the many, more sensational, political writings one sees so often these days.I