George Bush Popular Books
George Bush Biography & Facts
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. The eldest son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush and a member of the Bush family, he flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard in his twenties. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball before being elected governor of Texas in 1994. As governor, Bush successfully sponsored legislation for tort reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, and reformed the criminal justice system. He also helped make Texas the country's leading producer of wind-powered electricity. In the 2000 United States presidential election, he won over Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore, despite losing the popular vote after a narrow and contested Electoral College win that involved a Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in Florida. Upon taking office, Bush signed a major tax cut program and an education reform bill, the No Child Left Behind Act. He pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based initiatives. He also initiated the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in 2003 to address the AIDS epidemic. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 decisively reshaped his administration, resulting in the start of the war on terror and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Bush ordered the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. He signed the Patriot Act to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. He also ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq on the inaccurate beliefs that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and developed ties with al-Qaeda. Bush later signed the Medicare Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D. In 2004, Bush was reelected president in a close election, beating Democratic opponent John Kerry and winning a majority of the popular vote. During his second term, Bush reached multiple free trade agreements. He appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed in Congress. Bush was widely criticized for his handling of Hurricane Katrina and the midterm dismissal of U.S. attorneys. Amid his unpopularity, the Democrats regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and, in January 2007, Bush launched a surge of troops in Iraq. By December, the U.S. entered the Great Recession, prompting the Bush administration to obtain congressional approval for multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program. After finishing his second term, Bush returned to Texas, where he has since maintained a low public profile. At various points in his presidency, he was among both the most popular and unpopular presidents in U.S. history. He received the highest recorded approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, but also one of the lowest ratings during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Although public opinion of Bush has improved since he left office, his presidency has generally been rated as below-average by scholars. Early life and career George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. He was the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings: Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His paternal grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut. His father was Ronald Reagan's vice president from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish roots. Education Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a college-preparatory school. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and was the head cheerleader during his senior year. He attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. During this time, he was a cheerleader and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, serving as the president of the fraternity during his senior year. Bush became a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior. Bush was a rugby union player and was on Yale's 1st XV. He characterized himself as an average student. His grade point average during his first three years at Yale was 77, and he had a similar average under a nonnumerical rating system in his final year. In the fall of 1973, Bush entered Harvard Business School. He graduated in 1975 with an MBA degree, and is the only U.S. president to have earned an MBA. Family and personal life Bush was engaged to Cathryn Lee Wolfman in 1967, but the engagement did not last. Bush and Wolfman remained on good terms after the end of the relationship. While Bush was at a backyard barbecue in 1977, friends introduced him to Laura Welch, a schoolteacher and librarian. After a three-month courtship, she accepted his marriage proposal and they wed on November 5 of that year. The couple settled in Midland, Texas. Bush left his family's Episcopal Church to join his wife's United Methodist Church. On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. Bush describes being challenged by Billy Graham to consider faith in Jesus "Christ as the risen Lord", how he began to read the Bible daily, "surrendering" to the "Almighty", that "faith is a walk" and that he was "moved by God's love". Alcohol abuse Prior to getting married, Bush struggled with multiple episodes of alcohol abuse. In one instance on September 4, 1976, he was pulled over near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, for driving under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested for DUI, fined $150, and received a brief suspension of his Maine driver's license. Bush said his wife has had a stabilizing effect on his life, and he attributes her influence to his 1986 decision to give up alcohol. While governor of Texas, Bush said of his wife, "I saw an elegant, beautiful woman who turned out not only to be elegant and beautiful, but very smart and willing to put up with my rough edges, and I must confess has smoothed them off over time." Bush also claims that his faith in God was critical in the process .... Discover the George Bush popular books. Find the top 100 most popular George Bush books.
Best Seller George Bush Books of 2024
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Spoken from the Heart
Laura BushIn this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story. Born in the boomandbust ...
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How to Lead
David M. RubensteinThe New York Times Bestseller #1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerThe essential leadership playbook. Learn the principles and guiding philosophies of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bade...
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A First-Rate Madness
Nassir GhaemiThe New York Times bestseller“A glistening psychological history, faceted largely by the biographies of eight famous leaders . . .” The Boston Globe“A provocative thesis . . ....
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First
Evan ThomasNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interview...
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George H. W. Bush
Timothy Naftali, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. & Sean WilentzThe judicious statesman who won victories abroad but suffered defeat at home, whose wisdom and demeanor served America well at a critical timeGeorge Bush was a throwback to a diffe...
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With Liberty and Justice for Some
Glenn GreenwaldFrom "the most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years" (Bill Moyers), a scathing critique of the twotiered system of justice that has emerged in AmericaFr...
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Destiny and Power
Jon Meacham#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this brilliant biography, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jon Meacham chronicles the life of George Herbert Walker Bush.NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BES...
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The First Family Detail
Ronald KesslerNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Ron Kessler appears to get everything first.”Slate As in a play, presidents, vice presidents, and presidential candidates perform onstage for...
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Directorate S
Steve CollWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction Nominated for the National Book Award for NonfictionFrom the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Ghost Wars and The Ach...
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Little America
Rajiv ChandrasekaranA New York Times Notable BookThe author of the acclaimed bestseller and National Book Award finalist, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, tells the startling, behindthescenes story ...
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ISIS
Michael Weiss & Hassan HassanFully Revised & Updated Edition of the New York Times Bestselling and Highly Praised Book on ISIS With newly added material and breaking news including: Interview wit...
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Life After Power
Jared CohenNew York Times bestselling author of Accidental Presidents explores what happens after the most powerful job in the world: President of the United States.Former presidents have an ...
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Decision Points
George W. Bush#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this candid and gripping memoir, President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions that shaped his presidency and personal l...
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Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents
Cormac O'Brien & Monika SuteskiMurder, Adultery, Gambling, UFOs And the White House?!? Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features ...
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Rhetoric of President George W. Bush
Ben VothThis volume of rhetorical study is a firstofitskind for the undergraduate curriculum of Southern Methodist University. We provide a rhetorical analysis of the presidential rhetoric...
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Democracy
Condoleezza RiceFrom the former secretary of state and bestselling author a sweeping look at the global struggle for democracy and why America must continue to support the cause of human freedom....
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The Red and the Blue
Steve KornackiFrom MSNBC correspondent Steve Kornacki, a lively and sweeping history of the birth of political tribalism in the 1990sone that brings critical new understanding to our current pol...
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Hubris
Michael Isikoff & David CornThe real story behind the investigation of Iraq, and the basis for the MSNBC documentary of the same name hosted by Rachel MaddowFilled with newsmaking revelations that made it a N...
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Blood Money
Peter SchweizerBlood Money has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.
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Unbelievable
Katy TurNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Compelling… this book couldn’t be more timely.” – Jill Abramson, New York Times Book Review From the Recipient of the 2017 Walter Cronkite Award for Excel...
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Countdown bin Laden
Chris Wallace#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFollowing Chris Wallace’s “riveting” (The New York Times) and “propulsive” (Time) first book Countdown 1945 comes a deeply ...
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Enemies
Tim WeinerThe hidden history of the FBI and its hundredyear war against terrorists, spies, and anyone it deemed subversiveincluding even American presidents. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSEL...
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Conspiracy of Fools
Kurt EichenwaldFrom an awardwinning New York Times reporter comes the full, mindboggling true story of the lies, crimes, and ineptitude behind the Enron scandal that imperiled a presidency, des...
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Barbara Bush
Barbara BushThe classic #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, celebrating the life and legacy of First Lady Barbara Bushnow updated with new forewords from her five children, including reflect...
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A Passion for Leadership
Robert M. GatesFrom the former secretary of defense and author of the acclaimed #1 bestselling memoir Duty, a characteristically direct, informed, and urgent assessment of why big institutio...
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Playing to the Edge
Michael V. HaydenAn unprecedented highlevel master narrative of America's intelligence wars, demonstrating in a time of new threats that espionage and the search for facts are essential to our...
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All the Best, George Bush
George H. W. BushFormer President George H.W. Bush, revealed through his letters and writings from 1941 to 2010, is “worth its weight in gold…a valuable update of the life of an honorable American ...
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Days of Fire
Peter BakerIn Days of Fire, Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times, takes us on a gripping and intimate journey through the eight years of the Bush and ...
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41
George W. Bush#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, has authored a personal biography of his father, George H. W. Bush, the 41st P...
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American Wife
Curtis SittenfeldNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and fate into a brilliant portrait of a first ladyfrom the author of Rodham and Eligible...
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The Presidents Club
Nancy Gibbs & Michael DuffyThe New York Times bestselling history of the private relationships among the last thirteen presidentsthe partnerships, private deals, rescue missions, and rivalries of those selec...
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The Matriarch
Susan PageINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"[The] rare biography of a public figure that's not only beautifully written, but also shockingly revelatory." The AtlanticA vivid biography of fo...
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House of Bush, House of Saud
Craig UngerNewsbreaking and controversial an awardwinning investigative journalist uncovers the thirtyyear relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud and explains its impact ...
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Team of Five
Kate Andersen BrowerUSA Today BestsellerFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Womenalso a New York Times bestsellercomes a poignant, newsmaking look at the live...
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Roughneck Nine-One
Frank Antenori & Hans HalberstadtAn inside look at a special forces ATeam and the story of how the author's outnumbered and outgunned team won a crucial and dramatic battle on the Iraqi battlefields. On April 6th...
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500 Days
Kurt EichenwaldKurt EichenwaldNew York Times bestselling author of Conspiracy of Fools and The Informant recounts the first 500 days after 9/11 in a comprehensive, compelling pageturner as grippi...
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George W. Bush
James Mann, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. & Sean WilentzThe controversial president whose time in office was defined by the September 11 attacks and the war on terrorGeorge W. Bush stirred powerful feelings on both sides of the aisle. R...
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A World in Disarray
Richard HaassAn examination of a world increasingly defined by disorder and a United States unable to shape the world in its image, from the president of the Council on Foreign RelationsThings ...
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Bag Man
Rachel Maddow & Michael YarvitzNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The knockdown, dragout, untold story of the other scandal that rocked Nixon’s White House, and reset the rules for crooked presidents to comewith ne...
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George Bush
Judith T. MarcusIn the first full biography of the former president, awardwinning historian and biographer Herbert S. Parmet draws from George Bush's personal papers to look at the man who led...
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What It Takes
Stephen A. SchwarzmanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom Blackstone chairman, CEO, and cofounder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a longawaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman's life to show readers ...
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Hotel Scarface
Roben FarzadThe wild, true story of the Mutiny, the hotel and club that embodied the decadence of Miami’s cocaine cowboys heydayand an inspiration for the blockbuster film, Scarface...In the s...
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Known and Unknown
Donald RumsfeldA powerful memoir from the late former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld With the same directness that defined his career in public service, Rumsfeld's memoir is filled wit...
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The Threat
Andrew G. McCabe#1 New York Times Bestseller#1 Washington Post Bestseller#1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerOn March 16, 2018, just twentysix hours before his scheduled retirement from the organizat...