Bush

George W. Bush has been out of the White House for seven years. Jean Edward Smith’s look at the 43rd President is comprehensive. George W. Bush was born a child of privilege. George W. would spend much of his early life in elite schools, coasting on average grades and charm and looking for his place in the world. His indiscretions would be quashed by his father’s burgeoning connections in the political world. George W. was on the road to nowhere. All would change once he gave up alcohol and found Jesus Christ at 40 years of age. He would take control of his life and throw himself into his father’s campaigns for President. This would stoke the fires within and lead to his successful run for the Texas Governorship in 1994, his re-election in 1998, and the eventual sprint to the White House in 2000. He would hold himself accountable as “The Decider,” and that would be for the best and worst. In many cases the latter.

Jean Edward Smith’s biography doesn’t pull punches. Smith is tough but fair on the Bush Presidency, calling Bush out on the Iraq debacle, the Afghanistan quagmire, and the Katrina disaster, while praising his work on AIDS, education, and Medicare. Bush is seen through a bipartisan microscope, with the facts guiding the reader to judge the years of 2001-2009. An A+ political biography!