I’m not a political being by any stretch of the imagination, but something about this book just made me want to read it. It may have been the fact the election of the 43rd President was my first experience of the US voting system, or the plain and simple fact that most books written about those who have held a position of great power, such as the 41 in this book, they are invariably written by someone who didn’t know them on a personal level.

Whether you are a diehard opponent of the Bush Family, or like me lean neither one way nor the other, this is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone. Within its pages the reader will find not the usual politic rhetoric that is so often the fate of a biography of this nature, but an actual personal look at the life of the 41st President of the United States.

The Author manages to remove the mystic that surrounds his Father by regaling the reader with not only personal stories of a nature known only to a family member, but writes these stories in a loving and caring manner. The stories contained with the pages of this work are not just limited to ‘41’, but also cover anecdotes about other members of the family, including the daughters of ‘43’ himself. Written in a manner that I would not have thought possible from this man, the book is full of humour, life and above all laughter and love.
There is a lot in this book that makes it earn a place on any readers’ bookshelves, and I will definitely purchasing a copy for my library.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/01/30/review-41-a-portrait-of-my-father-george-w...





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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The notion of this book is very interesting. A Presidential biography written by a fellow President who is also a son. Parallels to the Adams family abound. George Bush the Elder, possessing a lifetime of experience in government, is like John Adams, also a one-term President. George W. Bush and John Quincy Adams are both sons who became President. Both sons had shortcomings which can be linked to their elite birth. Both sons knew how to work an establishment, and both faced the difficulty of seeming out-of-touch with the average American.

Upon completion, this biography left me with conflicting emotions. First, I grew a deeper admiration of George H.W. Bush (the Elder). Obviously W genuinely admires his father, and the writing allows that to shine through. Second, I felt more strongly that W was not qualified to be an American President. He saw the Republican party as a country club of sorts and lacked any real engagement with liberalism. HW seems to have wrestled with the issues of the day. W seems just to have coasted along.

I will dwell upon the positive. Reading about HW reminds me of a time before there was such a partisan divide in our politics. HW was a decent man who wanted to emphasize what we Americans have in common instead of dividing us to gain the upper hand. W chronicles several incidents in his life where HW chose the tougher road because of his commitment to decency.

W ties HW’s decency to his start in forgoing Yale to serve in World War II. Entering (and exiting) a war with purpose united HW’s generation and cemented their broad patriotism. Most men of his generation had fought for each other in war. This provided a common ethic and a common narrative which united them in times of political discord. Unfortunately, we lack that ethic today. With W, I stand in admiration of his father – even as a Democrat. ( )

I’m not a political being by any stretch of the imagination, but something about this book just made me want to read it. It may have been the fact the election of the 43rd President was my first experience of the US voting system, or the plain and simple fact that most books written about those who have held a position of great power, such as the 41 in this book, they are invariably written by someone who didn’t know them on a personal level.

Whether you are a diehard opponent of the Bush Family, or like me lean neither one way nor the other, this is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone. Within its pages the reader will find not the usual politic rhetoric that is so often the fate of a biography of this nature, but an actual personal look at the life of the 41st President of the United States.

The Author manages to remove the mystic that surrounds his Father by regaling the reader with not only personal stories of a nature known only to a family member, but writes these stories in a loving and caring manner. The stories contained with the pages of this work are not just limited to ‘41’, but also cover anecdotes about other members of the family, including the daughters of ‘43’ himself. Written in a manner that I would not have thought possible from this man, the book is full of humour, life and above all laughter and love.
There is a lot in this book that makes it earn a place on any readers’ bookshelves, and I will definitely purchasing a copy for my library.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/01/30/review-41-a-portrait-of-my-father-george-w...





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
( )

I'd picked up this book in bookstores a number of times and always set it down in favor of something else. But all of the tributes at 41's funeral made me think again - and I'm pleased that I did. His official biographer might have offered more details, but this is a son's portrait of a famous father. It gives a special depth to the tributes we heard earlier this month. It is an easy and often touching read of a truly decent and remarkable man. It will make you sad more of America's politicians are more like him. ( )

Better than I expected. I was reminded of things I had forgotten and also learned things about 41 that surprised me. For example, I knew about his service as a pilot in WW2, but not the story of his being shot down and rescued. I knew that one of his daughters, Robin, had died as a child, but not how. (This particular story is delivered well, without sentimentality; the reader learns that one of the rules of the house was that no one was to cry in front of Robin.) W. also leaves himself out of the picture--save when he occasionally says, "This would be something I learned years later" or when he offers a defense of the surge. Anyone who hates the Bushes will never read this; anyone else might enjoy it, especially the part about 41's friendship with Clinton. 41 had more achievements than he is usually credited with and, judging from the book, it seems out of character for him to crow about them. ( )