Family of Secrets The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America

by Baker, Russ

• ISBN13: 9781596915572
• ISBN10: 1596915579
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-23
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press

Summary

The long-hidden story of a family we thought we knewand of a power-making apparatus that we have barely begun to comprehend.After eight disastrous years, George W. Bush leaves office as one of the most unpopular presidents in American history. Russ Baker asks the question that lingers even as this benighted administration winds down: Who really wanted this man at the helm of the country, and why did his backers promote him despite his obvious liabilities and limitations? This book goes deep behind the scenes to deliver an arresting new look at George W. Bush, his father George H. W. Bush, their family, and the network of figures in intelligence, the military, finance, and oil who enabled the family's rise to power. Baker's exhaustive investigation reveals a remarkable clan whose hermetic secrecy and code of absolute loyalty have concealed a far-reaching role in recent history that transcends the Bush presidencies. Baker offers new insights into lingering mysteriesfrom the death of John F. Kennedy to Richard Nixon's downfall in Watergate. Here, too, are insider accounts of the backroom strategizing, and outright deception, that resulted in George W. Bush's electoral success. Throughout, Baker helps us understand why we have not known these things before. Family of Secrets combines compelling narrative with eye-opening revelations. It offers the untold history of the machinations that have shaped American politics over much of the last century.

Author Biography

Award-winning investigative journalist Russ Baker has written for the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Nation, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Esquire, and served as Columbia Journalism Review contributing editor. Baker’s appearances include NPR, Fox News, and Air America. In 2005, he founded the Real News Project, a nonprofit investigative news organization. His exclusive reporting on George W. Bush’s military record received a 2005 Deadline Club award.

Table of Contents

How Did Bush Happen?	p. 1
Poppy's Secret	p. 7
Viva Zapata	p. 22
Where Was Poppy?	p. 44
Oswald's Friend	p. 67
The Hit	p. 85
After Camelot	p. 119
Wings for W.	p. 134
The Nixonian Bushes	p. 159
Downing Nixon, Part I: The Setup	p. 175
Downing Nixon, Part II: The Execution	p. 220
In from the Cold	p. 253
Poppy's Proxy and the Saudis	p. 280
Poppy's Web	p. 299
The Handoff	p. 319
The Quacking Duck	p. 336
Playing Hardball	p. 358
Meet the Help	p. 370
The Conversion	p. 390
The Skeleton in W.'s Closet	p. 407
Shock and ... Oil?	p. 423
Deflection for Reelection	p. 441
Domestic Disturbance	p. 466
Conclusion	p. 491
Author's Note	p. 495
Acknowledgments	p. 496
Notes	p. 499
Index	p. 559
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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