There've been many book written about the Bush Presidency, most written by people with open access to the Administration, so you hope you're getting facts and not biased opinions. Few offer glowing summaries, and this one is no different. However, this one, being one of the latter books, does a good job of summarizing the many issues associated with the Bush term, and give a better insight into the key players and behind the scenes power brokers than many of the others. The other thing I felt this book did was provide a lot more insight into the many conservative and religious-right advisors who became key players in the State Department, Department of Defense, National Security team, etc. Unger discusses the long-standing ties among many of these neo-cons, their beliefs, and the agenda they carried with them into their jobs. It reminded me somewhat of the motion picture "W" about President Bush, which I expected to be a brutal portrail of the president, but all-in-all, seemed to be a fairly factual if not sympathetic presentation of the Bush years.
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Scintillating exposure of what was going on behind the scenes. Step by step efforts to continue the connection between religious factions and the US government. Felt like I was reading an indictment. Well referenced chapter by chapter notes, index, etc. Buy this one and save for kid's library. ( )

The cover of The Fall of the House Bush with its pictures of the president in various poses & the sub-title, "The untold story of how a band of true believers seized the executive branch, started the Iraq war, and still imperils America's future" sound like a blurb from the cover of the National Inquirer, promising spicey revelations & the unearthing of secret documents & numerous conjecture about a "hidden agenda". Instead, The Fall of the House ob Bush contains no scandulous revealations. Mr. Unger gives the reader a carefully documented history (with 60 pages of end-notes & biogtaphy) of events that anyone who reads a daily newspaper or watches TV news is already familiar with. What he also does, is gives of a thhourough background that lead to these events, again, fact with which we may be familiar, but listed in an orderly time-table that makes theeir conclusion easy for anyone to understand.

For example, In his coverage of the struggle for the establishment of the nation of Israel Mr. Unger takes us back to God's covenent with Abraham, the Patriarch respected by Jewish, Christians & Moslems. He also gives brief histories of the area before the invention of the internal combustion engine made it such a vital factor in the economies of industrialized nations. He exolains the British division of the area that once made up the Ottoman empire which was defeated in WW1 & explains how those divisions were certain to produce tensions in the region.

In the US, he shows the rise of the neo-conversatives & the "religous right" by comparing the settling of New England by the Puritans with the more open Church of England & Quaker colonies & the writers of the constitution, men of the enlightment & the displaced Scots-Irish who first crossed the Appalachians & fought the native tribes & did the actual "settling" of tis land.

Another important comparison is between the personalities of George H.W. Bush (#41) & son George W. Bush (43). Their different outlook in matters of national destiny are explained as we are given a brief biography of President Bush & how he became a "Born again Christian" & what exactly that means to the destiny of the United States. He also gives portrayals of Dick cheney & other officials who have taken part in what he calls the "failed foreign policy" of the war in Iraq.

This book is loaded with background information which is easy to understand to the average reader & is important to determining the direction our nation should take in the coming year. ( )

The untold story of how a band of true believers seized the executive branch, started the Iraq War, and still imperils America's future.