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

The long-hidden story of a family we thought we knew--and 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 mysteries--from 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. 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. After eight years in office, George W. Bush departed as one of the most unpopular presidents in American history. Russ Baker asks the question that lingered as this benighted administration left power: Who exactly wanted this man at the helm of the country, and why did his backers promote him despite his apparent 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. In his exhaustive investigation, Baker sees 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 mysteries--from 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, which Baker claims 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.

"Shocking in its disclosures, elegantly crafted, and faultlessly measured in its judgments, "Family of Secrets" is nothing less than a first historic portrait in full of the Bush dynasty and the era it shaped. From revelation to revelation, insight to insight--from the Kennedy assassination to Watergate to the oil and financial intrigues that lie behind today's headlines--this is a sweeping drama of money and power, unseen forces, and the emblematic triumph of a lineage that sowed national tragedy. Russ Baker's "Family of Secrets" is sure to take its place as one of the most startling and influential works of American history and journalism."--Roger Morris, former senior staff member, National Security Council, and author of "Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician" and "Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America
""Prodigiously industrious investigative journalist Russ Baker . . . connects the dots between the Bushes and Watergate."--Lev Grossman, "Time" Magazine
"Left-wing paranoia? Baker, a solid investigative journalist, works hard to back up his claims--a reader could choke on the complex, interwoven details in "Family of Secrets." He's a man on a mission, desperate to stop the 'methods of stealth and manipulation that . . . reflect a deeper ill: the American public's increasingly tenuous hold upon the levers of its own democracy.'"--"San Diego"" Union-Tribune"