DESTINY AND POWER

My review of Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (Random House) by Jon Meacham was published by Lone Star Literary Life. From the review:

When George Herbert Walker Bush was five years old his school report cards included the category �Claims More Than His Fair Share of Time and Attention in Class.� His parents didn�t worry about this category. Bush�s nickname was �Have-Half� because he split everything he had with friends. Eighty-five years later he is much the same.

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush is Jon Meacham�s account of the life of the forty-first president, �a child of one generation�s ruling class, the head of another�s, and the father of yet a third.� Meacham presents Bush as a man of humility and compassion as well as ambitious and deeply competitive, a believer in compromise, diplomacy, and the power of personal relationships.

A well-balanced account, Destiny and Power progresses briskly and never belabors a point. Meacham provides insightful analysis of family dynamics in Bush�s formative years, a recitation of the facts liberally leavened with anecdotes, and a good mix of formal and candid photos. Meacham had access to Bush�s diaries that he spoke into a hand-held recorder which provides a sense of immediacy�Bush�s thoughts in real time.

Click here to read the entire review. Thank you!