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He is a wonderful writer and could express himself very well in his letters.It was interesting seeing a different side to the Nixon administration and Watergate as well as other memorable historical times. One thing that was apparent in his letters is that he loves his family very much and that he has a very funny sense of humor. This is an excellent read, you will not be disappointed I enjoyed reading this book about our former president. The letters he wrote to his family, friends, and others showed a personal side to this great man.
The book is divided into major sections that align with what he was doing at the time. Overall, I was very happy to have read this book.it was a far better experience than I was expecting. Bush throughout his life. I figure they are pretty much attempts to justify their own actions, show things from their point of view, etc. This book is a collection of letters and personal diary entries from George H.
This book confirmed my impressions of him, showing him to be a compassionate man, who holds high ideals, who loves his family above all else, and who tends to give everybody, even his political foes, the benefit of the doubt. But more importantly than the events he describes, I was struck by the very nature of the man. But since this was a collection of actual letters written at the time I think that phenomenan is lessoned. He spent a lifetime at or near the top of huge events in this world and that fact can be easy to forget. We get to see his thoughts on historical events like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Panama invasion, Somalia, and, of course, Operations Desert Shield/Storm. It was fascinating, however, to see what his thoughts were regarding all of the events he participated in. It includes sections during his time as an oil man in Texas, as a congressman, as the US Ambassador to the UN, as the Chairman of the RNC (during the Watergate era), as the Director of the CIA, as the US liaison to China, and of course as the Vice President to Ronald Reagan and ultimately as the US President. This is probably due to being only a one term president sandwiched between the personalities of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
W. Afterall, George Bush, our 41st president is usually considered forgetable, despite Desert Storm. Of course an arguement can be made that only the letters that showed him in a positive light were included but there is just too much here to dispute the very nature of the man himself.Pick up this one and enjoy the journey, no matter what your political beliefs might be. It includes letters to his mom back when he voluntered to enter the US Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and goes all the way up until the date of publication of the book, just prior to his son's campaign for president. But we also get to read his thoughts on infamous events like his upchucking on the Chinese Premier and the fallout from "Read My Lips" etc.I have not read very many political autobiographies, at least not of the modern era.
Notes when he was a Diplomat(guessing thats why he sees the china issue different)Im not a big fan of him, But I do like him, (I prefer Reagan). All aside, A Good Reader, If your a Lefty who is close minded, Id say pass on it. A good Way to look into George Bush Sr.Pretty long, Just Letters, And some Diary entries. Sadly He was/is into the whole China Is good , And let china And Taiwan deal with the taiwan issue itself, Which I disagree with but.
Bush, for making this nation truly phenomenal. Because of good 'ol President Bush, the country is in the best shape it's ever been in. Thank you, Sir George W.
Though not coming across as a deep thinker of Churchillian eloquence, one finds flashes of insight and candor that suggest some deeper waters to Bush's character than either he or his detractors would acknowledge. He may have lacked the deeper ideological fervor of his predecessor Reagan, and certainly the mental agility and political sure-footedness of his successor Bill Clinton, but seemed to find his own high ground as a voice of common decency in times where such a thing was in painfully short supply. Not long on substance, it nevertheless reflects the admirable values and likeable personality of one of the nation's most fascinating one-term leaders.We meet George on the cusp of adulthood, entering the Navy as a pilot, unnerved by the prospect of combat and turned off some by the gung-ho "kill-the-Japs" mentality around him. Yet a real heart beats strongly beneath that Thurston Howell chest, and "All The Best" does a fine job of sharing it with readers.What makes "All The Best" most problematic is the bittiness of it, the fact the letters are not exchanges but just what he wrote to others, often with a line or two from Bush when he published this book in 1999 offering context. A solid, wide-ranging look at the life of an important American, told in his own words, "All The Best, George Bush" offers up a selection of George H.
Occasionally, one wonders in vain what kind of response a particular letter of his elicited.You do get a lot of time with the extended Bush family, who seem to bring out both the best and hokiest moments in the book. He describes keenly the call to duty, steeling himself for the possibility of death, which very nearly comes to call.Then it's on to Texas and the oil business, followed by brief stints as U.S. He clearly became a more inward directed man as he got older, though the fire that drove him to the White House still burned, if only now for his children and their offspring.I liked Bush before reading this book, and liked him more after. Absent the deeper approach of a memoir, a project he has forsworn, it's nice having that voice in print here. In a letter that starts "Dear Lads", he writes his four sons privately of Richard Nixon's failings, specifically in regard to the 37th President's famous loathing of Ivy Leaguers."I must confess that deep in his heart he feels I'm soft, not tough enough, not willing to do the 'gut job' that his political instincts have taught him must be done. He even whines, early in his tenure as Vice President to Ronald Reagan, that he was being called a "preppie", which of course he is in spades.It's easy to see something aristocratic about Bush, even beyond the fact running the country became for him a hereditary business.
W. House member, Republican National Committee chair, Ambassador to China, and CIA director. He too often comes across as out-of-touch, prone to awkward jokes and decades-old slang in a way that sometimes undermines expressions of deeply-held feelings and heartache. Bush's letters and diary entries before, during, and after his time as 41st President of the United States. He is inclined to equate privilege with softness or stuffiness."If there is an overarching theme to the book, beyond the sometimes choking, often inspiring message of how much faith and family meant to Bush 41, it is this hang-up with privilege, a self-consciousness about his high-born background and elitist image. He was in charge of the GOP as Watergate came crashing down, and his stint at the CIA came while many in Congress clambered for its dissolution.Letters from this period, in the turbulent 1970s, are probably the most interesting in the book.
He comes off as a bit of a stick at times: ".boys I like very much - and even boys I admire have had sexual intercourse with women" he writes his mother. Detractors noted that he never stayed long in one place, but life was moving fast and Bush certainly never lacked for interesting assignments.
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