American Dynasty Aristocracy Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush

The Bushes are the family nobody really knows, says Kevin Phillips. This popular lack of acquaintance—nurtured by gauzy imagery of Maine summer cottages, gray-haired national grandmothers, July Fourth sparklers, and cowboy boots—has let national politics create a dynasticized presidency that would have horrified America’s founding fathers. They, after all, had led a revolution against a succession of royal Georges.

In this devastating book, onetime Republican strategist Phillips reveals how four generations of Bushes have ascended the ladder of national power since World War One, becoming entrenched within the American establishment—Yale, Wall Street, the Senate, the CIA, the vice presidency, and the presidency—through a recurrent flair for old-boy networking, national security involvement, and political deception. By uncovering relationships and connecting facts with new clarity, Phillips comes to a stunning conclusion: The Bush family has systematically used its financial and social empire—its “aristocracy”—to gain the White House, thereby subverting the very core of American democracy. In their ambition, the Bushes ultimately reinvented themselves with brilliant timing, twisting and turning from silver spoon Yankees to born-again evangelical Texans. As America—and the world—holds its breath for the 2004 presidential election, American Dynasty explains how it happened and what it all means.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Good but ignores or barely touches upon some of their dirtiest secrets
Good stuff here on the Bush Family and their many shady dealings going back to the 1800’s. I mean it really is amazing how interwoven this bunch is with so many of the worst elements of the worlds power brokers for over a 150 years. If this book has a weakness its, although it brings up many of the the nefarious deeds and dealings of the Bush crime family, that it barely touches on or completely ignores the worst of the worst that the Bushs have been linked to over the years. It also tries a bit too hard to try to draw a parrellell between the Bush gangsters and European royalty by making them into Americans version of a royal family. Still recomended reading though.

4 Stars Surprise!
I was a little disappointed after reading the title that it wasn’t easy potshots at the world’s most worthy target, but rather a fact-based, rather dry account of the last century’s rise of dynasty, military-industrial complex, and of course 4 generations of Bushes’ feeding frenzy on said trends. But call me lazy.

5 Stars Required Reading
I wish this book had been read widely before the 2004 election. And even more, that it had been published before the 2000 election. It puts a whole different perspective on the forces that have brought us to such unhappy consequenses in the USA. I found this book to be highly informative, knowlegeable and chilling. A good read even though it is too late to change history. And a valuable lesson as we march into the next decades. Dynasties are anti-democratic.

5 Stars Exellent Book!!
A historically accurate review of the Bush multi generational quest for both national and international financial and political power with evidence that politics were a means and wealth the ends; as we continue to see in current events concerning that family today. A must read for anyone who wants at least a basic understanding of how insatiable thirst for absolute power and base, crass greed are at the heart of what and how the United States of America came to be and is currently run. When President Bush said to a group of the richest Americans during his re-election that:”…some refer to you as the ‘have mores’; I refer to you as My Base.” He wasn’t joking; that is his brotherhood, his extended family, the real and only Americans in his world view.

4 Stars The Bush Dynasty?
From the Preface of his book Kevin Philips says-”My original ambition was to identify and explain the Bush-related transformation of the U.S.presidency into an increasingly dynastic office,a change with profound consequences for the American Republic,given the factors of family bias,domestic special interests,and foreign grudges that the Bushes,father and son,brought into the White House.”

Mr.Philips fulfills that ambition in this book.

He delves into the family history and alliances,from Yale to Skull and Bones and in some cases to the O.S.S. and eventually the C.I.A.

He explains “Texanomics” quite well. A kind of low-tax,low-service,high economic stratification brand of Southern economic conservatism.

G.W.Bush’s allegiance to big business and the astronomical tax rebates to companies like G.E. and the ever famous Enron are detailed in the book. Also discussed in the book are G.W.Bush’s ties to Ken Lay and his lobbying for energy deregulation. I didn’t know that Enron had been a large supporter of the Republican team in the Florida recounts of the 2000 presidential election.

“George W. Bush is in a class by himself when it comes to prevarication. It is no exaggeration to say that lying has become Bush’s signature as president.”- The American Prospect quoted in the book.

Mr.Philips tells how the Bush-Cheney pairing in the White House is historical in that it brought two former energy company executives together.

The author gives a clear description of what the military-industrial complex is and it’s history.

He details the major part petroleum has played in past as well as present wars. It’s historical significance in the outcome of World War II can’t be argued.

This book explores the religious aspect of the junor president Bush and his relationship with evangelical voters in contrast with his father’s relationship to the same group of voters.

This is a very detailed book about the Bush and Walker families and the businesses they were involved in as well as the transformation of both president Bushes from business to their eventual presidencies.

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