Destiny and Power : The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

English

ISBN: 1400067650

EAN: 9781400067657

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Release Date: 11/10/2015

Synopsis: In this brilliant biography, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion, and Franklin and Winston chronicles the life of George Herbert Walker Bush. Drawing on President Bushs candid personal diaries; on the diaries of his wife, Barbara; and on extraordinary access to the forty-first president and to his family, Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of Communism, Destiny and Power charts the thoughts, decisions, and emotions of a modern president who may have been the last of his kind. This is the human story of a man who was, like the nation he led, at once noble and flawed. His was one of the great American lives. Born into a loving, privileged, and competitive family, Bush joined the navy on his eighteenth birthday, was shot down on a combat mission over the Pacific at age twenty. He married young, started a family, and resisted pressure to go to Wall Street, striking out for the adventurous world of Texas oil. Over the course of three decades, Bush would rise from the chairmanship of his county Republican Party to serve as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, head of the Republican National Committee, envoy to China, director of Central Intelligence, vice president under Ronald Reagan, and finally president of the United States. In retirement he became the only president since John Adams to see his son win the ultimate prize in American politics. In the diaries and in interviews with the author, Bush offered candid assessments of many of the critical figures of the age, ranging from Richard Nixon to Nancy Reagan; Mao to Mikhail Gorbachev; Dick Cheney to Donald Rumsfeld; Henry Kissinger to Bill Clinton. Here is high politics as it really is but as we rarely see it. George H. W. Bushs life was defined by the tension between his consuming ambition and his fundamental decency and desire to serve. In campaigns his ambition would win out, and he learned to run hard. In office, Bush tended to set aside harsh tactics, often putting his view of the national interest ahead of his own political well being. From the Pacific to the presidency, Destiny and Power charts the vicissitudes of the life of this quietly compelling American original. Meacham sheds new light on the rise of the right wing in the Republican Party, a shift that signaled the beginning of the end of the center in American politics. Destiny and Power is an affecting portrait of a man who, driven by destiny and by duty, forever sought, ultimately, to put the country first. Advance praise for Destiny and Power This astonishing book is both timely and timeless. Based on candid interviews and intimate letters and diaries, it provides a deep insight into the character of George H. W. Bush, flavored with colorful anecdotes depicting his relationships with people ranging from Gorbachev and Reagan to his sons George and Jeb. The result is a fascinating and insightful portrayal of the life of an exemplary American citizen. --Walter Isaacson Jon Meachams timely and intimate biography of George Bush 41 is a welcome reminder of this modest presidents call to service, from the cockpits of World War II to the Oval Office and the end of the Cold War. Here youll meet a man of patrician manners, wartime heroics, Texas assimilation, party and personal loyalty, with a refined sense of power that carried him into history. Meet the George Bush you didnt know. --Tom Brokaw

Destiny and Power : The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

Illustrated: Yes

Format: Hardcover

Width: 6.25 inches

Length: 9.25 inches

Weight: 45.08 oz

Pages: 832